From: Trans <transfire@...>
Date: 2006-10-29T18:30:10+09:00
Subject: Re: Interesting trival example of why open classes are good?

'ello --

Peter Michaux wrote:
> Do you know of a nice little example that doesn't modify a built in
> Ruby class? I didn't realize I wasn't specific enough in my request.

# --- dynamic/X/here.rb

  class X
    def here
      puts "Here I am!"
    end
  end

# ---

  class X
    def method_missing(s, *a, &b)
      begin
        require 'dynamic/X/#{s}'
        send(s, *a, &b)
      rescue LoadError
        super
      end
    end
  end

  X.new.here  #=> "Here I am!"

It's interesting pattern, don't you think? If you have large chunks of
code that only get used once in a while it's a way to speed up initial
load times. Actually you could write an entire program this way --with
each method in a different file (but that can be a chore to maintain).
In anycase it's an example of what you can do with open classes.

T.