From: Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date: 2005-11-23T21:41:34+09:00
Subject: Re: what is the ruby way to do this?

Selon "ako..." <akonsu@gmail.com>:

> > @attributes = {}
> >
> > # Assumes the given object quacks on 'key'
> > def @attributes.<<( keyed_obj )
> >   (self[keyed_obj.key]||=[])<<keyed_obj
> > end
> >
> > @attributes << a1
> > @attributes << a2
> > @attributes << a3
>
> this is something i have never seen. would you explain the 'def' line
> above? is this the same as class << @attributes; def << ...; end ?
>

If I understand correctly you are asking whether:

def @attributes.<<(obj)
  ...
end

is the same as:

class << @attributes
  def <<(obj)
    ...
  end
end

(I rewrote them because the clash of << as syntax and << as method made it a bit
difficult to read).

The short answer is "yes". The long asnwer is that both are ways to add a
singleton method to a particular object, @attributes in this case. The first
one is just shorter and practical when you want to create just one singleton
method. But it's mostly a matter of style.
--
Christophe Grandsire.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

It takes a straight mind to create a twisted conlang.