The same access rules apply when calling the methods of ancestor and descen-dent objects.
There are times when you may want to redefine a method that already exists in some class.
The method responsible for bringing an object into being is called the construc-tor. In Ruby, the constructor method is called new.
Ensuring a Loop Executes At Least Once Usually a while loops executes 0 or more times since the Boolean test is evaluated before the loop executes; if the test returns false at the outset, the code in
When you run a method that encloses nested methods, those nested methods will be brought into scope outside that method
You can nest methods (have one method nested inside another). This gives you a way of dividing up a long method into reusable chunks.
method names in Ruby almost always begin with a lowercase character like this: def fred However, that is a convention, not an obligation.
Just remember that there is only ever one copy of a class variable but there may be many copies of instance variables. If this is still confusing, take a look at the program:
When you want to execute several expressions using this syntax, you can put them between the begin and end keywords
But why, one may reasonably ask, would you ever want to create a class method rather than the more usual instance method?