From: darren kirby <bulliver@...>
Date: 2007-09-01T04:47:40+09:00
Subject: Method names and alias

Hello all,

In Unix, you can create a symlink to an executable, and have the program 
behave differently depending on how it was called by testing argv[0]. I would 
like to do something similar with Ruby methods using alias.

I have many methods which come in pairs, a version each for signed and 
unsigned numbers. These methods differ by only one line, eg:

def load_byte(destination, base_address, offset)
  <snip 15 lines>
  @registers.gen[destination] = bitstring_to_int(byte)
   true
end

def load_byte_unsigned(destination, base_address, offset)
  <snip 15 lines>
  @registers.gen[destination] = bitstring_to_int(byte, signed=false)
   true
end

My code would be considerably DRYer if I could make 'load_byte_unsigned' an 
alias to 'load_byte', and have the method inspect the name it was called as 
to decide if it should run 'bitstring_to_int(byte, signed=false)' or not.

Is there a way to do this? 

If not, I suppose my best bet is to move the snipped 15 lines to 
a 'load_byte_common' method and make 'load_byte' and 'load_byte_unsigned' 
thin wrappers around it?

Thanks for consideration,
-d
-- 
darren kirby :: Part of the problem since 1976 :: http://badcomputer.org
"...the number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected..."
- Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson, June 1972