From: "Brian Schröder" <ruby.brian@...>
Date: 2005-12-08T00:56:20+09:00
Subject: Re: Syntax checker?

On 07/12/05, William E. Rubin <williamerubin@dodgeit.com> wrote:
> Ruby doesn't seem to check for class names, function names, and so
> forth until it actually hits a line that tries to use such a thing.  Is
> there a way to get it to check up front, without having to run the
> script through every possible line of code?
>
> I understand that this is not strictly "syntax" checking, and that Ruby
> does actually do a "syntax" check.  So I mean some other term, more
> along the lines of what a traditional compiler will do (minus the
> actual compilation).
>
>
>

That is actually impossible, as the system can not determine which
functions exists at any given line without executing the previous
lines. E.g.

def method_missing(name, *args, &block)
  return name if args.length == 0
  super(name, *args, &block)
end

foo()
bar(foo())

cheers,
Brian

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