From: Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale@...>
Date: 2006-09-10T01:31:56+09:00
Subject: Re: BEST alias_method Re: [CHALLENGE] better alias_method

On 9/8/06, Ken Bloom <kbloom@gmail.com> wrote:

> The solution to this problem will actually let alias_method fall into
> disuse faster, since we don't need to use alias_method directly to wrap or
> override an old method anymore.

But the point is that although you can 'hide' alias_method behind a
DSL or a layer of metaprogramming, having it as a language feature is
invaluable in creating DSLs or doing metaprogramming

Two more reasons for having aliased methods in Ruby is for comfort of
programmers coming from other languages, and to efficiently provide
identical methods some of which might be overriden in subclasses, and
show which shouldn't be (like Object#==, and Object#===)

For an example of the first aliasing Enumerable#collect and
Enumerable#map gives Smalltalk programmers a familiar name for the
method, while map might be more familiar to others.

For the second,
-- 
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/