CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyruby-2.4
Pavel
Pavel

Reputation: 88

Ruby load does not see static methods in the class

I am experimenting with ruby (2.4.1p111) and with the load method and it does have some strange behavior:

I have two files:

mytest.rb:

class MyClass

  def self.greet(param)
   puts "Got called: #{param}"
  end

  greet 'Called locally'

  load "./testld.rb"
end

and the loaded file:

testld.rb:

greet 'Called by load'

I understood from documentation that the loaded code from testld.rb and the method call right in the MyClass should behave the same. Instead, I am getting:

-bash-4.2$ ruby mytest.rb
Got called: Called locally
/Blacksmith/RB/testld.rb:1:in `<top (required)>': undefined method `greet' 
for main:Object (NoMethodError)
    from mytest.rb:9:in `load'
    from mytest.rb:9:in `<class:MyClass>'
    from mytest.rb:1:in `<main>'

Any idea what I do wrong?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 170

Answers (2)

sawa
sawa

Reputation: 168199

Wherever you load a file, the loaded file is always evaluated within the main environment. The value of self in the main environment of testld.rb is the main environment of the entire script. Hence, your

greet 'Called by load'

is not equivalent to

MyClass.greet 'Called by load'

as you expected.

Upvotes: 1

MatayoshiMariano
MatayoshiMariano

Reputation: 2106

You need to call MyClass.greet in testld.rb, that is because greet is a class method defined in the class MyClass.

Here is documentation for class methods.

Upvotes: 2

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