From: William Djaja Tjokroaminata <billtj@...>
Date: 2002-09-06T01:48:11+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby aesthetics

Hi,

I also appreciate the "always open" class definition very much.  Next to
the Ruby blocks, for me probably this is the second best about
Ruby.  It is very useful, especially for dealing with built-in
classes.  There will be much more work to do (using inheritance or
encapsulation) if we cannot directly redefine the classes.  For example,
just by redefining the Array push() and pop() methods (and adding data
member), I can have a moving average which is of order (const) instead of
order (N).

Right now, for me Ruby is already a jackpot.  When we are able to deal
with the current Ruby GC performance problem in the future, it is not
impossible that Ruby may become my "holy grail"...

Ooops, I hope I am not off-topic here, wait... it is "Ruby aesthetics", so
I guess I am not.... :)

Regards,

Bill
=============================================================================
Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@soyabean.com.au> wrote:
> Certainly.  That instance_eval method is far removed from normal programming
> practices.  Adding methods to classes is something that we generally celebrate,
> too - although it's certainly weird to start with, depending on your
> background.

> Some friends of mine think it's too strange and unsafe to modify classes after
> they've been built, and I don't blame them (I don't agree, but I don't blame
> them).  These things take time to appreciate...

> At least Ruby suffers from good design, not hacks.

> Gavin