From: dblack@...
Date: 2006-01-09T07:20:31+09:00
Subject: Re: Ideas on "Why Living Dangerous can be A Good Thing" in Ruby?

Hi --

On Mon, 9 Jan 2006, Gregory Brown wrote:

> How can I best rephrase, rewrite, etc the definition to show that
> reflection is a key tool for doing manipulation, not something that
> does manipulation itself?

I still don't have what I consider a complete fix on what we
collectively mean by metaprogramming, but I think I'd say that Ruby's
R&I facilities are preconditions of, or create a hospitable
environment for, metaprogrammming techniques.

For example:

   unless obj.respond_to?(meth)      # R&I
     obj.singleton_class.class_eval {
       define_method(meth) &block    # metaprogramming, arguably
     }
   end

(using my favorite non-existent method, singleton_class :-)


David

-- 
David A. Black
dblack@wobblini.net

"Ruby for Rails", from Manning Publications, coming April 2006!
http://www.manning.com/books/black