From: Chris Gernon <kabigon@...>
Date: 2007-01-06T07:37:57+09:00
Subject: [Newbie] Question about instance method scoping/parsing (?)

Can anyone explain to me what's going on here?

-------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/env ruby -w

class Thingy
  attr_accessor :name

  def test
    puts "self.name: #{self.name}"
    puts "name:      #{name}"

    name ||= 'default value'

    puts "self.name: #{self.name}"
    puts "name:      #{name}"
  end
end

thing1 = Thingy.new
thing1.name = 'custom value'
thing1.test
-------------------------------------
$ ruby dditest.rb
self.name: custom value
name:      custom value
self.name: custom value
name:      default value
-------------------------------------

I thought calling a method without a receiver (i.e. name, name=) within
an instance method would always call that method on the current object.
Is this not true for setters (i.e. Thingy#name=)?

Additionally, why is the first instance of name interpreted as a method
call and the last instance interpreted as (I think) a local variable?

Thanks,
Chris

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