Feature #16123
closedAllow calling a private method with `self.`
Description
Problem¶
There is an inconsistency between calling a private attribute writer being allowed with self.value =
syntax and self.value
not being allowed on a private attribute writer.
Calling a private method in this way can be useful when trying to assign the return value of this private method to a local variable with the same name.
Solution¶
The attached patch handles this by compiling the calling into a function call by using the VM_CALL_FCALL
flag, so it is as if the call were made without the self.
prefix, except it won't be confused with local variables at the VM instruction level. It is also compiled like an assignment call, except I didn't use the COMPILE_RECV
macro, since that would remove the CHECK
macro usage around the COMPILE
line.
Files
Updated by shevegen (Robert A. Heiler) about 5 years ago
I may not completely understand the issue description. What is the inconsistency? (That is a honest
question, by the way; I am not fully understanding the issue domain.)
I am not even entirely sure what a private attribute writer is either; can we use these terms when
we can use e. g. send() at all times? I may not understand this, but I assume you can get the value
of any method via .send() and assign it to the local variable?
Updated by dylants (Dylan Thacker-Smith) about 5 years ago
Here is a script to help demonstrate the inconsistency, where self.bar = 123
is allowed by self.bar
is not.
class Foo
def foo
self.bar = 123 # allowed
self.bar # raises
end
private
attr_accessor :bar
end
Foo.new.foo
By attribute writer, I was just referring to an assignment method like the one defined by attr_writer
, although the same applies to any assignment method like def bar=(value); value; end
. The inconsistency is just more obvious when dealing with the pair of methods defined by attr_accessor
if they are private because self.
works with one of them but not the other as shown above.
shevegen (Robert A. Heiler) wrote:
I may not understand this, but I assume you can get the value of any method via .send() and assign it to the local variable?
Yes, it can be easily worked around, it just doesn't seem like it should be necessary to workaround this limitation. The point of private
is to keep things from being accessible from other objects, which we know isn't the case when a call is made on self.
directly.
Updated by mame (Yusuke Endoh) about 5 years ago
Why do you use private attr_accessor? You can access its instance variable directly.
Allowing self.private_method
has a unpreferable side effect; it allows self.global_function
, i.e., self.require "foo"
, self.lambda { }
, self.fork
, etc.
Updated by matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto) about 5 years ago
- Related to Feature #11297: Allow private method of self to be called added
Updated by matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto) about 5 years ago
Accepted. But as I said in #11297, the document should be updated. After the patch, you can say self.puts("hello")
, which can confuse you.
Matz.
Updated by nobu (Nobuyoshi Nakada) about 5 years ago
- Related to deleted (Feature #11297: Allow private method of self to be called)
Updated by nobu (Nobuyoshi Nakada) about 5 years ago
- Is duplicate of Feature #11297: Allow private method of self to be called added
Updated by dylants (Dylan Thacker-Smith) about 5 years ago
- Status changed from Open to Closed
Applied in changeset git|7fbd2f7cc247ee66e877ab3c88f0274834c6b6c7.
Allow calling a private method with self.
This makes it consistent with calling private attribute assignment
methods, which currently is allowed (e.g. self.value =
).
Calling a private method in this way can be useful when trying to
assign the return value to a local variable with the same name.
Updated by nobu (Nobuyoshi Nakada) over 4 years ago
- Related to Bug #16947: private method unexpected behavior added