From: dblack@...
Date: 2006-07-26T03:39:54+09:00
Subject: Re: method self.a= and a= create different instance variables

Hi --

On Wed, 26 Jul 2006, yuesefa wrote:

> i try this in irb .
>
> irb(main):001:0> def a=(a)
> irb(main):002:1>   @a=a
> irb(main):003:1> end
> => nil
> irb(main):004:0> def a
> irb(main):005:1>   @a
> irb(main):006:1> end
> => nil
> irb(main):007:0> a=1
> => 1
> irb(main):008:0> a
> => 1
> irb(main):009:0> self.a=2
> => 2
> irb(main):010:0> a
> => 1
> irb(main):011:0> self.a
> => 2
>
> a and a= should be private methods of Object. so call of a or self.a
> should do the same thing. but it's not. i am now confused.

When you write:

   a = 1

Ruby parses that as a local variable assignment.  In other words,
methods ending in = always require that you provide an explicit
receiver (in this case "self").


David

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