From: mattmsykes@... (Matt M Sykes)
Date: 2002-04-17T21:05:24+09:00
Subject: private variables (again)

I found some old threads on this topic so I'm probably belaboring the
point but sorry I can't resist ...

I find it *very* odd that private instance variables don't exist in
Ruby, considering private/protected/public levels exist for methods.

It just seems insane that @x in class A is ready to be trampled upon
by any subclass of A.

Ruby needs to implement variable hiding (or something similar) if it
is to gain more public acceptance.  I feel that many programmers (I
have in mind mainly C++ programmers) will consider Ruby's behavior too
dangerous and avoid Ruby because of it.

Python has the ugly __x --> __ClassA_x mangling convention which does
not hide the variable but at least provides some level of protection.

Can someone give an update on this topic?  I saw it being discussed
with some proposed solutions but I didn't see any decisions made.

I am quite willing to dig into the source and help implement an
agreed-upon solution.


--Matt