Slides

Ruby Scope

This section covers globals, constants, and class variables.

Ref.: WGR Ch. 5, The default object (self), scope, and visibility

Global and Class Variable Scope

Constants

  • start with a capital letter
  • might be scoped inside modules e.g. Math::PI
  • once set, cannot be changed
  • turns out that all classes and modules are actually constants

Global Variables

  • start with $
  • available everywhere
  • Danger!

Built-in Global Variables

  • $: load path (also $LOAD_PATH)
  • $* command-line args (also ARGV)
  • $$ pid
  • $! the most recent shell error
  • for more, open English.rb in the Ruby source
    • $HOME/.rvm/src/ruby-1.9.2-*/lib/English.rb

Class Variables

  • start with @@
  • really "class and instance and descendants" variables
  • available inside class definitions and instance methods
  • used for counters, caches, etc.

Class Variable Problems

  • must be initialized before access (unlike instance vars)
  • very widely shared, so easily polluted
  • can be replaced with class instance variables
    • single-@ vars inside class methods

Class Instance Variables

  • start with @
  • accessible only inside class scope
    • e.g. inside a class method
  • clearer and more consistent semantics than @@ class variables