Class (not instance) initializers

Ruby
1

Newbie question:

Is there an equivalent to a static constructor in ruby?
something like:

class MyClass

want this to run before any instances of MyClass are created

def class_initialize
self.some_complex_initialisation
end
end

At the moment I’m using:
class MyClass
def initialize
@@init = self.some_complex_initialisation if @@init.nil?
end
end

I’d love to know if there is a more rubyesque way of doing this

Bhrgunatha.

2

Bhrgunatha Deva wrote:

end

At the moment I’m using:
class MyClass
def initialize
@@init = self.some_complex_initialisation if @@init.nil?
end
end

I’d love to know if there is a more rubyesque way of doing this

Just place your code in the class body:

class MyClass
@class_state = complex_calculation
end

Often one needs to inform a super class of a new child. This can be
done with #inherited:

class Base
def self.inherited(cl)
print Base, " was inherited by ", cl, “\n”
end
end

class Foo < Base
end
Base was inherited by Foo
=> nil

Kind regards

robert
3

Ross B. wrote:

=> nil

I’m so dim. I didn’t realise I could just call a method from inside the
class body.

Robert K. wrote:

end
Base was inherited by Foo
=> nil

Whoa, that’s very neat!

Thanks.

4

I am creating a DSL using Ruby. A cut down version is below:

class _Box
attr_accessor :width

 def initialize (&block)
            self.width = 20			# some default value
	instance_eval(&block) if block_given?
end

end

Helper function to avoid the DSL user having to use .new

def Box(&block)
_Box.new(&block)
end

I want to do something like:

 Box {width = 10}

but the only way I can get it to work is

 Box  {self.width = 10}

Having to prefix the ivar with self. makes the DSL look clunky and
wouldn’t be acceptable to my users.

Is there anyway to avoid the self.? Using {@width = 10} will work
but prevents some necessary validation from taking place.

I have an alternative where width is a method:

class _Box
def width (val = :no_param)
if val != :no_param
@width = val
end
@width
end
end

so with this I can write

 Box {width 10}

which is acceptable from the DSL view point, but makes the getter
operations more expensive. In the real version a getter operation
takes about 7 statements to allow for evaluation of block if the ivar
had been set to a Proc object and inheritance of values from its
parent object (in a visual hierarchy). The setter operation is often
only done when the object is created but the getter is done very
frequently so I want to move down the route of separate setters and
getters rather than combining them in the one method as an optimization.

Dave.

5

Dave B. wrote:

Dave.

Good article on DSLs and addresses your question:
http://www.artima.com/rubycs/articles/ruby_as_dsl.html

6

On Tue, 2006-03-21 at 19:20 +0900, Bhrgunatha Deva wrote:

end
Do you mean something like:

class InitMe
def self.complex_init
puts “Initializing #{self}”
end

complex_init
end
#§ Initializing InitMe

=> nil

or even just:

class InitMe
puts “Initializing #{self}”
end
#§ Initializing InitMe

=> nil

?

7

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, Dave B. wrote:

Helper function to avoid the DSL user having to use .new

Box {self.width = 10}
class _Box
Box {width 10}

which is acceptable from the DSL view point, but makes the getter operations
more expensive. In the real version a getter operation takes about 7
statements to allow for evaluation of block if the ivar had been set to a
Proc object and inheritance of values from its parent object (in a visual
hierarchy). The setter operation is often only done when the object is
created but the getter is done very frequently so I want to move down the
route of separate setters and getters rather than combining them in the one
method as an optimization.

here is one simple way:

 harp:~ > cat a.rb
 class OpenStruct
   alias_method "__eval__", "instance_eval"
   alias_method "__set__", "instance_variable_set"
   alias_method "__get__", "instance_variable_get"
   instance_methods.each{ |m| undef_method m unless m =~ /^__/ }
   def initialize(&block) __eval__ &block end
   def method_missing m, *a, &b
     m = m.to_s.delete "=?"
     a.size == 0 ? __get__("@#{ m }") : __set__("@#{ m }", a.shift)
   end
 end

 module Initializable
   def initialize &block
     os = OpenStruct.new &block
     attributes.each{|a| instance_variable_set "@#{ a }",

os.send(a)}
end
def to_s
require “yaml”
attributes.inject({}){|h,a| h.update a => send(a)}.to_yaml
end
def attributes
self.class::ATTRIBUTES
end
end

 class Box
   ATTRIBUTES = %w[ width height ]
   ATTRIBUTES.each{|a| attr a}
   include Initializable
 end

 def Box(*a, &b) Box.new(*a, &b) end

 puts Box {
   width 42
   height 42
 }



 harp:~ > ruby a.rb
 ---
 height: 42
 width: 42

the idea is to initialize another object, the OpenStruct in this case,
and then
relay the properties. this object can have any ‘slow’ but convenient
behaviour
your desire, leaving the Box class to have normal ‘fast’ attributes.

hth.

-a

8

“Dave B.” [email protected] wrote

Having to prefix the ivar with self. makes the DSL look clunky

I agree, though some experienced Rubyists don’t see it that way.

move down the route of separate setters and getters rather than combining
them in the one method as an optimization.

If you have some guarantees about the ordering of getters and setters,
you
can dynamically (re)define the getter and setter at the instance level.
The
attached worked for the case of instance variables being initialized
only
once, but being read at any time (the context for this was some kind of
lazy
creation of an object graph including forward references). Perhaps some
bits
of it will apply to your case.

class Object
def singleton_class
class << self; self; end
end
end

module LazyForwardRef
UNDEFINED = nil
def forward_ref(attr)
getter = attr
setter = (attr.to_s + ‘=’).intern
ivar = (‘@’ + attr.to_s).intern
suspension = lambda { self.send getter }
self.singleton_class.send :define_method, getter, lambda {
v = instance_variable_get ivar
if v == UNDEFINED
suspension
elsif v.is_a?(Proc)
current = v.call
self.send(setter, current) if current != v
current
else v
end
}
self.singleton_class.send :define_method, setter, lambda {|val|
self.instance_variable_set ivar, val
}
end
end

require ‘pp’

x = Object.new
x.extend LazyForwardRef

begin
p x.foo
rescue NoMethodError => detail
pp detail
pp [LINE, x, x.methods.sort - Object.instance_methods]
end

x.forward_ref(:foo)
pp [LINE, x, x.methods.sort - Object.instance_methods]

x.foo
pp [LINE, x, x.foo]

x.foo = ‘Something else’
pp [LINE, x, x.foo]

y = Object.new
y.extend LazyForwardRef

y.forward_ref(:bar)
pp [LINE, y, y.methods.sort - Object.instance_methods]

z = Object.new
z.extend LazyForwardRef
z.forward_ref(:baz)

y.bar = z.baz
pp [LINE, x, y, z, x.foo, y.bar, z.baz, x.foo==z.baz]

x.foo = y.bar
pp [LINE, x, y, x.foo, y.bar]

z.baz= 10
pp [LINE, x, y, z]

pp [LINE, x.foo, y.bar, z.baz]

pp [LINE, x, y, z]