From: Morton Goldberg <m_goldberg@...>
Date: 2007-10-21T13:15:02+09:00
Subject: Re: objects or variables?

On Oct 20, 2007, at 10:50 PM, Thufir wrote:

> I'm going by "Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby":
>
>     starmonkey = ratchet.attach( captive_monkey, captive_star )
>
> The ratchet gets an attach message. What needs to be attached? The
> method arguments: the captive_monkey and the captive_star. We are
> given back a starmonkey, which we have decided to hang on to.
>
> <http://poignantguide.net/ruby/chapter-4.html>
>
> ratchet.attach() is a static method?
>
> ratchet is an object or a static class?

Ruby is a dynamic language -- nothing is static in the sense of Java  
or C++. Further, every expression evaluates to an object, so  
ratchet.attach(captive_monkey, captive_star) returns an object (of  
some kind --- _why doesn't tell us what kind and it doesn't matter  
much -- class is not the big deal in Ruby that it is in languages  
with static typing of variables). ratchet is an object of a class  
that has an attach method which knows how, given a monkey and a star.  
to produce something _why calls a starmonkey.

> starmonkey is an object, yes?  Of what class?

The variable starmonkey is bound to the object returned by the  
expression on the right-hand side of the assignment -- it can be  
used, for some execution extent, to refer to that object.

Regards, Morton