From: 7stud -- <bbxx789_05ss@...>
Date: 2011-03-31T11:20:24+09:00
Subject: Re: basic ENCAPSULATION help

One of the key aspects of a private method is: a private method cannot 
be called with an explicit "receiver".  What does that mean?  The 
receiver is the object calling the method.  In the following example:


class Dog
  def bark
    puts "woof"
  end
end

spot = Dog.new
spot.bark

--output:--
woof

...spot is the "receiver" and spot calls the method bark().  However, 
according to the rules of ruby, you cannot specify a receiver when you 
call a private method.

Well, than how does ruby know which object is calling the method?  Now 
you enter the tricky realm of what's known as 'self'.  When a method is 
not called with a receiver, ruby implicitly uses whatever object is self 
at the instant the method is called.

RULE #1: When ruby executes code inside a method, then inside the method 
self is equal to the object that called the method.  So, for instance, 
in the example above, when spot calls bark(), inside bark(), self is 
equal to spot.

What that implies is that you will usually call private methods from 
inside public methods.

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