How does table_name static method work?

Rails
1

There has to be a simple explanation for this.

I can do this to get the table name behind a model

User.table_name
=> “users”

Great. But looking at the table_name code in active_record/base.rb,
the table_name method is not static (no self.)!

  def table_name
    reset_table_name
  end

So why can I call table_name as a static method ???

2 
 def table_name
   reset_table_name
 end

So why can I call table_name as a static method ???

Scroll up to around line 353 and you’ll see this line:

 class << self # Class methods

So if you remove everything else you really have this:

module ActiveRecord
class Base
class << self # Class methods
def table_name
…
end
end
end
end