From: ptkwt@...1.aracnet.com (Phil Tomson)
Date: 2002-01-29T04:18:35+09:00
Subject: Re: "friend" alternative in Ruby?

In article <20020128102233.T18909@atdesk.com>,
Paul Brannan  <paul@atdesk.com> wrote:
>On Sat, Jan 26, 2002 at 09:52:59AM +0900, Minero Aoki wrote:
>> You can use Object#__send__ to call private methods.
>
>Should I be able to do this, though?  There are some valid uses of
>send() where I would not want to be able to call private methods.
>
>Is it a good idea to rely on a "feature" that is not documented?  (I
>have been unable to find anywhere that mentions that send() is supposed
>to be able to call private methods).
>

You can call private methods with send() or __send__(), the latter seems 
to be provided in case your class defines a send() method.

I proposed a 'safer' send that wouldn't call private methods in an earlier 
post in this thread.

Phil