Re: Module Confusion

On Sat, Jul 13, 2013 at 9:55 AM, Michael W. <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Okay. Let me try and further explain.   With stack.push(obj) I would
> understand if it said @stack.push(obj) but that actually breaks the
> code. In the add_to_stack method.
>

This is because the stack method will initialize the @stack instance
variable if it doesn't already exist:

   def stack
     @stack ||=[]
   end

The ||= operator is common in ruby code.  In this case, it will initialize
the @stack instance variable to a new array if it hasn't yet been
initialized.  Search the forum for the gritty details on how ||= works and
how it can be interpreted.  It is pretty complicated under the covers.

If you try to just access @stack in the add_to_stack method, your code will
break because the @stack instance variable has not been initialized.  But
accessing it through the stack method makes sure it gets initialized when
it is needed.

Hope that helps,
Doug