From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2013-02-07T22:47:56+09:00
Subject: Re: using an instance variable inside a method

On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 1:56 AM, Student Jr <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:
> Actually, there is another reason to avoid self.method.  self.method has
> the security level of protected

Right!  Sometimes this is used intentionally to make method calls look
more like keywords - "attr_accessor" is such a case:

irb(main):006:0> Module.private_instance_methods.grep /attr/
=> [:attr, :attr_reader, :attr_writer, :attr_accessor]

>--you can only access private methods via
> self.send.  Just say no.

There are two ways to invoke private methods

foo()
self.send(:foo)

Note that the second also works with other expressions than "self".

Kind regards

robert

-- 
remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/