From: "Jesús Gabriel y Galán" <jgabrielygalan@...>
Date: 2013-02-06T20:39:44+09:00
Subject: Re: using an instance variable inside a method

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 5:20 AM, Student Jr <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:
> The key here is "interpreter".  A bare token might either be a reference
> to a local variable or to a method on self.  The interpreter interprets
> the code as it is being run.  When it hits a bare token, it looks for a
> method on self by that name.  If found, it calls it.  If not, it is
> assumed to be a local variable.

This is not quite correct, although it's close. Running Ruby code has
two steps, the parsing and the runtime. At parsing time, each token is
labeled as either a local variable or a method call. If the parser has
seen the token at the left hand side of an expression before, it
labels it as a local variable. If not, it labels it as a method call.
At runtime, tokens labeled as local variables are evaluated to their
value, and token labeled as methods are looked up the method execution
chain to find them.

Jesus.