From: Kaspar Schiess <eule@...>
Date: 2012-11-27T02:20:38+09:00
Subject: Re: Novice: Understanding instance 'variables' and methods

Hei,

> A question - or comment - on instance variables.
I can't say I understood all of your post - but here's what might clear
things up for you: In Ruby, there's no public access for instance
variables. Assume in #initialize you do

  @foo = 1

To get at the value of @foo, you absolutely must define a getter, either by

  attr_reader :foo

or so

   def foo
     return @foo
   end

The only scope @foo is equal to 1 is the instance scope of your class.
No external access without some sort of getter. And of course,
#instance_variable_get and other meta-methods.

k