From: Mark Wilden <mark@...>
Date: 2008-05-23T21:56:40+09:00
Subject: Re: Prevent ruby constant variables from changing?

On May 22, 2008, at 11:33 PM, Florian Gilcher wrote:

>>> If you noticed, class names are constants. As you can change  
>>> classes at runtime, constants must be changable.
>>> Actually overwriting Constants emits a warning. A you should  
>>> program warnings-free, that should be no problem :).
>>
>> Sure, you can change classes at runtime, but should you be able to  
>> change which object is referenced by a class name? I haven't heard  
>> of that before. Do you have a real-world example of someone doing  
>> that? Just curious.
>>
>> ///ark
>>
>
> "Hot code replace" comes to my mind. Completely reloading a class  
> while keeping the system running. There, it makes sense to  
> completely obliterate the old class.

You're not really loading a different class - you're just updating the  
current class, which could be done more tediously by redefining its  
methods and reinitializing its attributes. But I see what you mean,  
and you're right.

///ark