From: "krusty.ar@..." <krusty.ar@...>
Date: 2008-07-02T04:27:14+09:00
Subject: Re: nested methods good or bad design

On Jun 30, 12:42 pm, John Maclean <jaye...@gmail.com> wrote:
> =begin
> Hey chaps,
>
> Is it bad practice to have nested methods? I'm sure that it would
> result in messey/cluttered code. Does any one actually code like that
> at all? Not really -essential- as everything is working, (even better
> than), as expected without nested methods. Just would be nice to know
> what the gurus andmy peers think on this one.
>

I'm not sure I understand completely, but how is having a variable (or
any other object) laying around representing that the system can call
method2 is cleaner than:

def method1
  if criteria
    def method 2
      ##...
    end
  end
end

?

I find that easier to follow than:

def method1
  if criteria
    #set some flag
  end
end

##.. more code

##check the flag

def method2
  ##...
end

The only way that the first alternative could get messy is with very
long methods, wich you should avoid anyway.

Lucas.