From: James Edward Gray II <james@...>
Date: 2007-05-10T21:33:19+09:00
Subject: Re: The Factory Method

On May 10, 2007, at 1:56 AM, Enrique Comba Riepenhausen wrote:

> I was thinking about the Factory Method Pattern and following came  
> to my mind.

In addition to Pat's great answer, I think it's important to note  
that classes are objects in Ruby.  This often aids in Factory pattern  
scenarios.  For example:

 >> class Prose
 >>   def initialize(title, author)
 >>     @title = title
 >>     @author = author
 >>   end
 >>   def inspect
 >>     "#{self.class}:  #{@title} by #{@author}"
 >>   end
 >> end
=> nil
 >> class Novel < Prose; end
=> nil
 >> class ShortStory < Prose; end
=> nil
 >> class Author
 >>   def initialize(name)
 >>     @name = name
 >>   end
 >>   def to_s
 >>     @name
 >>   end
 >>   def write(type, title)
 >>     type.new(title, self)
 >>   end
 >> end
=> nil
 >> james = Author.new("James")
=> #<Author:0x14a11d0 @name="James">
 >> james.write(Novel, "Ruby:  The Girl I Loved")
=> Novel:  Ruby:  The Girl I Loved by James
 >> james.write(ShortStory, "Little Ruby Riding Hood")
=> ShortStory:  Little Ruby Riding Hood by James

Just some more food for thought.

James Edward Gray II