From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2000-10-14T07:49:16+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:5527] Re: class messages in Ruby

faatdilac@my-deja.com writes:

> Are there class messages in Ruby and are they inheritable?

Yes and no.

You can specify a class as a receiver, but the message itself isn't
special: you can specify a receiver for any message.

So:

   class One
     def One.m1      # explicit receiver
       puts "m1"
     end
   end

   def One.m2        # explicit receiver
     puts "m2"
   end

   o = One.new

   def o.m3          # another explicit receiver
     puts "m3"
   end

   One.m1    #=> m1
   One.m2    #=> m2
   o.m3      #=> m3

In the first two cases, the receiver is the class object, and  in the
third the receiver is an instance of the class. Ruby documentation
calls all three methods 'singleton methods', as they are methods
associated with a single object.

So Ruby support class messages without needing any special support for 
class messages.


Regards


Dave