From: Stefano Crocco <stefano.crocco@...>
Date: 2007-06-01T18:10:59+09:00
Subject: Re: How to specify access modifers for variables????

Alle venerd狸 1 giugno 2007, raja ha scritto:
> thus IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO DECLARE ACCESS
> MODIFIERS FOR VARIABLES ?

Yes, it's impossible. But you don't need it. Instance variables are always 
private. You can't do:

an_object.@var

(you'll get a SyntaxError exception if you try that)

So, if you want to access an object's instance variable from outside the 
object, you need to provide a method which does that (note that all 
attr_reader do is to define a method which returns the instance variable). 
After defining the method, you can make it protected or private, if you need 
to.

I hope this helps

Stefano