From: james@...
Date: 2002-04-05T09:33:55+09:00
Subject: OO/Ruby Terminology

I added a wiki page for Ruby book development ...
http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyBookDevelopment

... and I have a related question.  What terminology should one use when
explaining Ruby & object-oriented programming?  It's common to see people
describe this:

Foo.bar( x )

as "calling Foo's bar method," though a Smalltalker might describe it as
"sending a bar message to Foo."

Does one or the other encourage a frame of mind better suited (or
detrimental) to fully understanding, and making use of, Ruby?

I was thinking about method_missing, and how the receiver/message paradigm
better explains what one can do with method_missing than does the
object/method view.  You can send any message you like to a receiver; what
happens depends on what methods the receiver has available.  But it sounds
awkward to talk about calling methods that don't exist, and how an object
can still process the call.



James