From: Shadowfirebird <shadowfirebird@...>
Date: 2011-03-08T06:35:07+09:00
Subject: Re: basic programming question, help please

If you want to say "Square.count" then you need a class method and that's how you define one.

I don't know if there is an especial advantage in doing it this way, other than it makes more sense when you read the code.  (Anyone?)

You could equally have written:

class Square
  def initialize
    if defined?(@@number_of_squares)
      @@number_of_squares = @@number_of_squares + 1
    else
      @@number_of_squares = 1
    end
  end
  def count
    @@number_of_squares
  end
end

a = Square.new
b = Square.new
puts b.count