From: Alex Young <alex@...>
Date: 2007-08-02T07:06:07+09:00
Subject: Re: Private methods not so private?

Frank Meyer wrote:
> Hello,
> I'm using Ruby 1.8.2 and I'm reading the book "Programming Ruby 2nd
> edition". In this book they say, that Ruby implements private methods by
> not allowing another receiver than "self". After reading this, I tried
> the following:
> 
> class Test
>  private
>  def print_hello
>   puts "Hello everyone!"
>  end
> end
> 
> t = Test.new
> t.send( "print_hello" )
> 
> 
> This program runs just fine and prints "Hello everyone!".
> 
> 
> 
> Is this behaviour to be expected?
Yes - send trumps private.  Private in Ruby is more of a guideline than 
a rule.  The implementer is trying to tell you not to go there, but you 
can get around it if you really need to.

-- 
Alex