From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2002-11-17T22:39:10+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie questions regarding getter/setter methods...

From: "Yohanes Santoso" <ysantoso@jenny-gnome.dyndns.org>


> > In general, how do member variables work? Are they all private and
> > require accessor/reader methods to be accessed at all? My background
> > includes a little bit of C/C++ and Java.
>
> They are all private to outsider (not subclasses). To make them
> public, you have to either attr_reader or attr_writer or attr_accessor
> them.

I think it's worth clarifying here: member variables are always protected.
They are not "made public" by attr_* methods - because these create *methods*,
not tunnels-by-which-member-variables-can-be-accessed.  It's a subtle
difference ... until someone redefines the 'x=' method.

Gavin