From: Trans <transfire@...>
Date: 2007-08-25T22:16:00+09:00
Subject: Bind to an "as if" superclass context

Is there a way to do the "opposite" of binding a superclass method to
the current context? In other words, I want to call a method as if the
current binding were an instance of the superclass. For example, using
the method #public_methods as a basis of demonstration (could be any
method though):

  class X
    def a; "a"; end
  end

  class Y < X
    def b; "b"; end

    def public_methods(all=true)
      # ?
 
self.class.superclass.instance_method(:public_methods).bind(self).call(all)
    end
  end

  y = Y.new

  p y.public_methods(false)

Of course, that produces

  ['b', 'public_methods']

But what I want is:

  ['a']

I suspect there's no way to do this short of resorting to delegation
rather than subclassing. But I wanted to ask and make sure.

Thanks,
T.