From: jarnaud@...
Date: 2006-02-12T14:12:31+09:00
Subject: methods and default values

Hi all, let's say that I have a very nice:

class Text
 def initialize(text, bold="no", italic="no", color="black")
   @text=text
   @bold=bold
   @italic=italic
   @color=color
 end
end

class TextSet
  def initialize
    @texts=Array.new
  end
  def add(text)
    @texts.push(text)
  end
end

Let's say I dont want to have a attr_writer :italic, :bold, :color
for TextSet because I want my code to look like

foo = TextSet.new
foo.add(Text.new("Hello, my name is"))
foo.add(Text.new("Jerome"))

as opposed to

foo = TextSet.new
text1=Text.new(Text.new("Hello, my name is"))
text2=Text.new(Text.new("Jerome"))
foo.add(text1)
foo.add(text2)

Ok, you follow me? Now let's talk about default value for the Text
constructor.

Let's say I want my name (Jerome) in green.

I have to do foo.add(Text.new("Hello, my name is", "no, "no, "green")),
right?

Question: I'd like to get rid of the useless "no", "no".
Is there a way to specify, that I want an instance of the object with
the default parameters except for one?

Thanks for your ideas