From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2011-01-03T18:35:10+09:00
Subject: Re: little tool for learning the ruby lookup path

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 10:05 AM, timr <timrandg@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have been looking at the process ruby utilizes for method lookup,
> and wrote the code below. It has proven very enlightening to me. I am
> sharing. It allows obj#method_table to be called where one normally
> uses obj#methods. It inserts markers (conspicuous method names) into
> the method array that delimit the source for the listed methods up to
> that point so that it is clear how the method array is composed. See
> the test case at the bottom for clarification.
>
> The most thrilling thing I have done this entire year is to monkey-
> patch methods and see them hop to the appropriate section of the
> method_table and disappear from the previous position.

IMHO monkey patching should not be general practice and stay limited
to particular cases because of the dangers it creates.

> I'd be interested to hear any feedback interested rubyists have about
> the approach or if anyone has suggestions to refactor the code.

What I don't like about your approach is that you _modify_ what you
investigate.  Analyzing where a method comes from should not change
any of the classes involved.

Then, I'd define this method as an instance method of Object because
you want to investigate methods of a particular instance (even if it
is a class or module).

Finally, for classifying things a Hash seems a much better choice than an Array.

I'd rather do something like this:

require 'pp'

class Object
  def method_table
    Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = []}.tap do |tbl|
      methods.each do |m|
        tbl[method(m).owner] << m
      end
    end
  end
end

s = "foo"
def s.bar;123;end

pp s.method_table

Kind regards

robert

-- 
remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/