From: Dave Aronson <rubytalk2dave@...>
Date: 2013-02-22T06:28:45+09:00
Subject: Re: How class objects call methods ?

On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 2:46 PM, Xavier R. <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:

> "Class are itself objects" - this is statement is making me too
> confused,when trying to feel the concept at its core.
...
> Can anyone give me here some light?

Think of a class as a set of instructions for making something.  That
something, is an object of that class.  So if you declare class
Widget, and do "w = Widget.new", w is an object of class Widget, or
for shorthand, w is a Widget.

BUT (the tricky part) a class itself is *also* something made using a
set of instructions.  That set of instructions is the class called
Class.  (You can think of that as being a set of instructions for
writing instructions, like a manual on writing manuals.)  So a class
is also an object, of class Class.

To top things off, there is also a class called Object, that
everything else inherits from.

(Well, technically not any more.  Now there's BasicObject, which is
even more basic than Object.  But that's another story.)

It becomes a bit clearer when you realize you COULD do "Class.new" and
fill it in with all the various things needed to define a class.  So
in that respect, Class is just another class.

-Dave

-- 
Dave Aronson, the T. Rex of Codosaurus LLC,
secret-cleared freelance software developer
taking contracts in or near NoVa or remote.
See information at http://www.Codosaur.us/.