From: "David A. Black" <dblack@...>
Date: 2005-08-29T22:40:22+09:00
Subject: Re: Method behaves differently when called using #send

Hi --

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005, Malte Milatz wrote:

> David A. Black wrote:
>> irb(main):008:0> class C; def x; 1; end; private :x; end => C
>> irb(main):009:0> class C; def method_missing(m); p m; end; end => nil
>> irb(main):010:0> C.new.x
>> :x
>> should give a "private method 'x'" error.
>>
>> Then again, that's actually a NoMethodError....  Maybe it should be a
>> UnavailableMethodError or something.
>
> In my opinion, an object shouldn't tell others about its internals unless
> explicitly asked. So a NoMethodError is OK IMHO. Consequently, I agree
> with the current behavior calling method_missing here.

But look at the error message:

   irb(main):003:0> 1.puts
   NoMethodError: private method `puts' called for 1:Fixnum

It's contradictory: "no method", but "private method called".  "No
method" really doesn't describe the situation.  Perhaps no *response*,
but not no method.


David

-- 
David A. Black
dblack@wobblini.net