attr_* position in a class and their results

[Arno J.]

Hello,
I was playing with instance variables when I made up those two classes :

class Vartest_before
def init
@instance_variable = "I belong to the instance"
end

attr_accessor :instance_variable

def instance_variable
@instance_variable = "Forced"
end
end

class Vartest_after
def init
@instance_variable = "I belong to the instance"
end

def instance_variable
@instance_variable = "Forced"
end

attr_accessor :instance_variable
end

Now when using them, here are the results (# =>) :

a = Vartest_after.new
a.init
b = Vartest_before.new
b.init

puts a.instance_variable # => I belong to the instance
a.instance_variable = "Changed"
puts a.instance_variable # => Changed

puts b.instance_variable # => Forced
b.instance_variable = "Changed"
puts b.instance_variable # => Forced


I don't understand what's happening :/ Can you ?

 

[Stefano Crocco]

Alle marted=C3=AC 14 agosto 2007, Arno J. ha scritto:

Hello,
I was playing with instance variables when I made up those two classes :

class Vartest_before
def init
@instance_variable =3D "I belong to the instance"
end

attr_accessor :instance_variable

def instance_variable
@instance_variable =3D "Forced"
end
end

class Vartest_after
def init
@instance_variable =3D "I belong to the instance"
end

def instance_variable
@instance_variable =3D "Forced"
end

attr_accessor :instance_variable
end

Now when using them, here are the results (# =3D>) :

a =3D Vartest_after.new
a.init
b =3D Vartest_before.new
b.init

puts a.instance_variable # =3D> I belong to the instance
a.instance_variable =3D "Changed"
puts a.instance_variable # =3D> Changed

puts b.instance_variable # =3D> Forced
b.instance_variable =3D "Changed"
puts b.instance_variable # =3D> Forced


I don't understand what's happening :/ Can you ?

In the case of Vartest_before, when you call=20

puts b.instance_variable

the value of @instance_variable is changed to 'Forced' before being returne=
d.=20
If you substitute that line with

puts b.instance_variable_get@instance_variable)

you'd get what (I think) you expect, that is 'Changed'. This doesn't happen=
=20
for the other class because there your definition of instance_variable is=20
overwritten by the one provided by attr_accessor.

I hope this helps

Stefano

 

[Sebastian Hungerecker]

class Vartest_before
def init
@instance_variable = "I belong to the instance"
end

attr_accessor :instance_variable

This defines a method instance_variable

def instance_variable
@instance_variable = "Forced"
end
end

This defines the method instance_variable again. The version created by
attr_accessor doesn't exist anymore.

class Vartest_after
def init
@instance_variable = "I belong to the instance"
end

def instance_variable
@instance_variable = "Forced"
end

attr_accessor :instance_variable
end

This time it's the other way around: First you define the method with
def, then you redefine it with attr_accessor. It's like doing
def bla()
1
end
def bla()
2
end
Everytime you call bla, it will return 2 because the second definition
overrides the first one.


HTH,
Sebastian

 

[Arno J.]

Ok, I'm must be tired because I was expecting just the opposite, which
wasn't logical.
Sorry for this dumb question.

 

[Robert Klemme]

Ok, I'm must be tired because I was expecting just the opposite, which
wasn't logical.

Maybe it was even caused by using a different order in class definition
and usage. This got me confused initially as well.

Sorry for this dumb question.

No prob.

Kind regards

robert