From: "David A. Black" <dblack@...>
Date: 2009-10-11T19:13:26+09:00
Subject: Re: When use self.method_name and when only method_name?

Hi --

On Sun, 11 Oct 2009, Joshua Muheim wrote:

> Hi all
>
> Just a small newbie question: When calling a method inside an object, I
> should always use self.method_name for good style, right? I know that I
> could always only use "method_name", but it's a bit prone to errors
> because I could have also a local variable called "method_name", and
> when I use "self." I always call the method, and not a potentially
> available local variable.
>
> So it's always better style to use:
>
> def validate
>  self.errors.add_to_base("...")
> end
>
> instead of:
>
> def validate
>  errors.add_to_base("...")
> end
>
> Right? :-)

In general I prefer to leave off the optional "self." except in a
couple of cases. The one that comes to mind mainly is:

   def <=>(other)
     self.age <=> other.age
   end

where I like having the explicit receiver on both sides.

It's definitely not unidiomatic to leave off the self. In fact, the
whole private access level depends on it -- and even if you're not
using a lot of private methods, that's enough to confirm that it's
acceptable stylistically.


David

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