From: ara.t.howard@...
Date: 2007-01-05T00:05:49+09:00
Subject: Re: Little Things

On Thu, 4 Jan 2007 dblack@wobblini.net wrote:

> Hi --
>
> On Thu, 4 Jan 2007, ara.t.howard@noaa.gov wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 4 Jan 2007, Rob Sanheim wrote:
>> 
>>> I bet once they saw "send!" in the docs or in irb they would
>>> immediately know how it works.  Its aligns perfectly with many other
>>> things in the std lib, and fits perfectly with POLS.
>> 
>> agreed.
>> 
>>> As for protecting from people overriding it, I think having the
>>> underscore forms is enough.  YSYEO ("You'll shoot your eye out.")  I'm
>>> sure there are programs were object_id and other meta-methods  are
>>> overridden.  All you can do is warn people against doing it, test your
>>> code, and of course choose libraries that behave well.
>> 
>> alternatively, it can be externalized so no matter how hard you muck about
>> with objects you cannot break certain unalienable behvaiours we desire them 
>> to
>> have.
>
> Do you really think no one will ever do:
>
>  def Pervasives.send
>    # ...
>  end
>
> ? :-)

yes.  the Pervasives module would be designed at the C level to prevent
modification, if you read my initial post you'll see that's it's entire
purpose:

   harp:~ > cat a.rb
   class Pervasives
     freeze
     class << self
       freeze
     end
   end

   class Pervasives
     def self.send
     end
   end

   harp:~ > ruby a.rb
   a.rb:9: can't modify frozen object (TypeError)

i know this can be subverted, but it can be done at the C level.

the point is to have a single object responsible for maintaining and retrieving
certain unalterable traits of objects.  this can either be done somehow for
every object or for one object.  i prefer the one object approach because it
streamlines the api: you don't have to remember send! vs. send or object_eval
vs instance_eval, you use the Pervasives handle with the normal method to cut
straight to the heart of of any object.

regards.

-a
-- 
in the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.
- the dalai lama