From: Ferenc Engard <ferenc@...>
Date: 2003-09-13T05:38:47+09:00
Subject: Re: Mthod redefinition

Hello,

This is something you want:

------------------------------
class Foo
	def aMethod(param)
		# Based on param's type, call the appropriate function
		if param.kind_of?(String)
			return aMethod_string(param)
		end
		if param.kind_of?(Integer)
			return aMethod_integer(param)
		end
	end

	def aMethod_string(param)
		# ...
	end
	def aMethod_integer(param)
		# ...
	end
	private :aMethod_string, :aMethod_integer
end
------------------------------

OTOH, the ducktyping is just you have said (if I correctly understand):
if it can quak, it's a duck, if it can speak, it's a human. You can
inspect what an object can do with the respond_to?() method:

------------------------------
class Foo
	def aMethod(param)
		# Based on param's capabilities,
		# call the appropriate function
		if param.respond_to?(:quak)
			return aMethod_quaks(param)
		end
		if param.respond_to?(:speak)
			return aMethod_speaks(param)
		end
	end

	# It can quak, who cares what this param really is?
	def aMethod_quaks(param)
		# ...
	end
	def aMethod_speaks(param)
		# ...
	end
	private :aMethod_quaks, :aMethod_speaks
end
------------------------------

Both are untested code, sorry if something do not work.

Regards:
Circum