From: Gennady Bystritksy <gfb@...>
Date: 2005-06-21T00:13:10+09:00
Subject: Re: preventing instantiation

R. Mark Volkmann wrote:

> 
> When I put the following in my class, it seems that even that class can't create
> instances.
> 
> private_class_method :new
> 
> I'm confused.  How can I create a few objects within the class and then prevent
> other classes from creating additional instances?
> 
> --
> R. Mark Volkmann
> Partner, Object Computing, Inc.
> 

When you declare :new private with private_class_method, the class 
itself CAN call method "new", as long as it is invoked without self:

class Test
   def self.create(*args)
     self.new(*args) # does not work
     new(*args) # works !!!
   end
end

This is because by definition, you cannot specify a receiver when 
calling private methods.

Hope this helps,
Gennady.