From: hemant <gethemant@...>
Date: 2007-09-01T13:10:10+09:00
Subject: Re: Method names and alias

On 9/1/07, darren kirby <bulliver@badcomputer.org> wrote:
> 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
z> to decide if it should run 'bitstring_to_int(byte, signed=false)' or not.

Well this is your problem, "have the method inspect the name it was
called as". I guess if you really want to DRY them up ( although the
other approach you suggested sounds good enough), you can use
method_missing and capture method names and do stuff based on that.

Also, if there is a way to determine method that you intend to call
based on argument data type, then you can inspect your arguments and
do DRY stuff. But i guess you would have already thought out that
possibility. Anyways...

>
> 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
>
>


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