From: pongba <pongba@...>
Date: 2007-09-03T14:45:05+09:00
Subject: Re: How does ruby handle overloading?

On Sep 3, 10:23 am, dbl...@wobblini.net wrote:
> Hi --
>
>
>
> On Mon, 3 Sep 2007, pongba wrote:
> > On Sep 2, 9:25 pm, Sebastian Hungerecker <sep...@googlemail.com>
> > wrote:
> >> pongba wrote:
> >>> what concerns me is that if, for
> >>> instance, we have Matrix and Graph, and we'd like to be able to draw
> >>> both of them (the two 'draw's would have the same semantic but
> >>> different implementation logic), how 're we going to be able to
> >>> overload draw on Matrix and Graph like what we do in C++ or Java:
>
> >>> void draw(Matrix);
> >>> void draw(Graph);
>
> >> def draw(arg)
> >>   if arg.is_a? Matrix
> >>     do_stuff
> >>   elsif arg.is_a? Graph
> >>     do_other_stuff
> >>   end
> >> end
>
> >> HTH,
> >> Sebastian
> >> --
> >> NP: Dream Theater - Honor Thy Father
> >> Jabber: sep...@jabber.org
> >> ICQ: 205544826
>
> > But isn't type-switch generally believed to be a bad thing?
>
> It's actually class-switch (type and class aren't the same in Ruby),
> and it's an expedient that can be useful in some situations but tends
> to interfere with "thinking in Ruby", so to speak. Ruby generally is
> more about objects and their capabilities, and less about which
> classes happened to spawn them.
>
> David
>
> --
> * Books:
>    RAILS ROUTING (new!http://www.awprofessional.com/title/0321509242)
>    RUBY FOR RAILS (http://www.manning.com/black)
> * Ruby/Rails training
>      & consulting:  Ruby Power and Light, LLC (http://www.rubypal.com)

Thanks, David. That helps :-)