From: Phillip Gawlowski <cmdjackryan@...>
Date: 2011-08-10T04:02:47+09:00
Subject: Re: Problem in typical code

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 8:38 PM, amir e. <aef1370@gmail.com> wrote:
> EXCUSE ME !!!!!!!!!!
> THIS IS THE CODE :

No need to use caps. :)

> class Fixnum
>  def seconds
>    self
>  end
>  def minutes
>    self * 60
>  end
>  def hours
>    self * 60 * 60
>  end
>  def days
>    self * 60 * 60 * 24
>  end
> end

Explanation of the code:

If you type this into irb, and write something like "2.days", the
Fixnum 2 (Fixnums are a bit of a special case in Ruby, since they
don't usually get created, but just *are*) gets multiplied by seconds,
minutes, then hours. This happens because "self" is a keyword in Ruby,
which means "I want to do this to myself".

A made up example:

class Car
  def turn_key
     self.motor = "on"
  end

  def motor=(state) # A manually created 'setter method'
    @motor = state # "@motor" is an 'instance variable', meaning it is
valid only within a single Car object.
  end
end

-- 
Phillip Gawlowski

phgaw.posterous.com | twitter.com/phgaw | gplus.to/phgaw

A method of solution is perfect if we can forsee from the start,
and even prove, that following that method we shall attain our aim.
              -- Leibniz