From: Enrique Comba Riepenhausen <ecomba@...>
Date: 2007-05-11T01:00:43+09:00
Subject: Re: The Factory Method

On 10 May 2007, at 17:00, Robert Klemme wrote:

> I'd go even further and point out that *every* class[1] in Ruby is  
> a concrete factory - maybe even at the start of the article.  In  
> the most general way the interface is new() i.e. what you would  
> call a "default constructor" in other languages.  Few know that  
> classes usually also provide method #allocate to create an instance  
> of the class but without invoking #initialize.  So that would be  
> the second factory method that all classes support. :-)
>
> Also, you can create any number of additional factory methods on a  
> class, if you wish so.
>
> And finally, since there are no interfaces in Ruby the pattern  
> might be less obvious, even if implemented "properly", i.e. with  
> concrete creation methods. (I think you do mention that on the Wiki  
> already.)
>
> Kind regards
>
> 	robert
>
>
> [1] excluding classes that do not support #new.

Thanks for the clarification Robert! I included it actually in the  
Wiki as I think it'll help to further understand this concepts in  
Ruby...