From: Rich Kilmer <rich@...>
Date: 2001-10-27T12:58:48+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:23590] Re: Fast reply needed: class var trouble

Its just (as in the posts below) that sometimes in the context of a method you want to call a method such as:

class MyCoolClass
  INITIALIZING = 1
  RUNNING = 2
  STOPPED = 3

  def status=(status)
    ...do funky thing based on new status beyond setting instance variable
  end

  def initialize
    status=INITIALIZING
    ...initialize stuff
    status=RUNNING
  end
end

In this example I want to invoke the status=(status) method but Ruby thinks I want to create a method local variable named "status" and set its value.

Instead I simply code:

  def initialize
    self.status=INITIALIZING
    ...initialize stuff
    self.status=RUNNING
  end

I have no problem with this.  I am just have to be more explicit to resolve ambiguity sometimes (although rarely) when telling Ruby what I want :-)

-Rich

> -----Original Message-----
> From: dave@thomases.com [mailto:dave@thomases.com]On Behalf Of Dave
> Thomas
> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 10:58 PM
> To: ruby-talk ML
> Subject: [ruby-talk:23587] Re: Fast reply needed: class var trouble
> 
> 
> "Mark Hahn" <mchahn@facelink.com> writes:
> 
> > I don't know about variable declaration as the solution, but this is
> > definitely a real problem in Ruby right now.  Is there anything in
> > Ruby Garden that solves this ambiguity?
> 
> I'm wondering if you're talking from some bad experiences here, or if
> this is an observation based on preferences. The reason I ask is that
> I've been coding Ruby for a fair while now and I've never once felt
> the need to declare variables. As always, I'm interested in other
> opinions. But I suspect that this is a change you're unlikely to see,
> as it would change the character of the language dramatically.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> 
> Dave