# How are you locating method signatures and sources?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-are-you-locating-method-signatures-and-sources/59969>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 9, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-are-you-locating-method-signatures-and-sources/59969 "2006-05-09T03:00:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vijay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/4bbf92/32.png) [@vijay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vijay)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-are-you-locating-method-signatures-and-sources/59969/1 "2006-05-09T03:00:40Z")

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hello all,

1. given there is a method say, “save” within a ruby class, how are you  
going about finding what type arguments it takes, what it returns  
and then perhaps, its source code (if you want to learn by example)?

is the way to navigate to api documentation and search to  
find the method?

1. in case of the ruby on rails “scaffold:” methods, how do  
you find the above for them - it seems an effort to have  
to go to all code that perhaps is dynamically generating  
the CRUD methods.

is there by chance a way for ruby by introspection (or else)  
return the source code for a method?

this is a huge challenge for a newbie like myself who is used  
to nice “self-documenting” java methods, and zipping to the  
corresponding javadoc source with the stroke of the F1 key.

best,

vj

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vijay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/4bbf92/32.png) [@vijay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vijay)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-are-you-locating-method-signatures-and-sources/59969/2 "2006-05-09T03:11:00Z")

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On May 8, 2006, at 9:00 PM, jay raman wrote:

> 1. in case of the ruby on rails “scaffold:” methods, how do
> 
> best,
> 
> vj
> 
> –  
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).

You should check out ri, gem\_server and [http://www.ruby-doc.org/](http://www.ruby-doc.org/)