Method lookup for modules included in modules

Ruby
1

My question has to do with the diagram on page 12 of “Advanced Rails”.
It arises from the following structure:

module A; end;
module B; include A; end
module C; include A; end
class D; include B; include C; end

(This would be a diamond-shaped hierarchy if inheritance were used.)
Now picture a similar structure, except without a common ancestor:

module A1; end;
module A2; end;
module B; include A1; end
module C; include A2; end
class D; include C; include B; end

d = D.new

When a message is sent to d, that method is searched for in the
following order: B, A1, C, A2. My question is how this is implemented
in terms of ‘klass’ and ‘super’ as described in the book.

First, the klass pointer from d takes us to D, whose m_tbl is
searched. Then D’s super pointer takes us to the proxy for the B
module. That proxy’s m_tbl pointer points to the B methods which are
searched. Then B’s super pointer takes us to B’s proxy for the A1
module, which causes A1’s methods to be search.

Here’s my problem. If A1 doesn’t contain the method, what causes the
search to backtrack to the B proxy and follow its super pointer to the
C proxy? This “backtracking” seems counter to the purported “linear”
lookup order. (This is just a conceptual problem for me - it’s obvious
what the lookup order is, and it’s easy to verify.)

The best I can come up with is that the process is this:

  1. Look for the method in D
  2. If not found, follow the super and look for the method in the B proxy
  3. If not found, follow the super and look for the method in the C proxy
  4. If not found, follow the super and look for the method in the A2
    proxy
  5. If not found, give up

However, “look for the method in the B proxy” expands to

2a. Look for the method in B
2b. If not found, follow the super and look for the method in the A1
proxy
2c. If not found, give up (which takes us back to #3 above

That sounds right. :slight_smile:

But then I’m confused by the use of the klass pointers in the diagram.
They seem to imply that when the lookup follows the super from D to
the B proxy, that B is a non-class object and hence its klass pointer
is used to find its methods. That would imply that the B proxy is an
object of the B class, which doesn’t sound right. Is the klass pointer
actually used to find the B proxy’s methods? Or is it just the case
that the B proxy class object and the B class object contain the same
m_tbl pointer? If so, what (if anything) is the klass pointer between
the proxy and the class object used for?

I think the best answers to this question will come from people who
have the “Advanced Rails” book to hand. I’ve searched pretty far and
wide and simply haven’t found an explanation of how method lookup
passes from an included module to a module that’s included in that one.

I’m probably making a conceptual mountain of a molehill, but any
clarification (other than “read the code!”) would be appreciated.

///ark

2

Mark W. wrote:

My question has to do with the diagram on page 12 of “Advanced Rails”.

Then why wouldn’t you post your question in a Rails forum??!

3

On May 14, 2008, at 8:29 PM, Mark W. wrote:

Here’s my problem. If A1 doesn’t contain the method, what causes the
search to backtrack to the B proxy and follow its super pointer to
the C proxy? This “backtracking” seems counter to the purported
“linear” lookup order. (This is just a conceptual problem for me -
it’s obvious what the lookup order is, and it’s easy to verify.)

as each module in included in the target, it’s entire lookup chain is
added to that target - therefore no ‘backtracking’ is required, we
just end up with a long line that, when followed, happens to give the
appearance if backtracking.

a @ http://codeforpeople.com/

4

On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 12:10 AM, 7stud – [email protected]
wrote:

Mark W. wrote:

My question has to do with the diagram on page 12 of “Advanced Rails”.

Then why wouldn’t you post your question in a Rails forum??!

Because, if you read past he first line, you’d realize that it is
definitely a Ruby and not a Rails question.

–
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/

5

On May 14, 2008, at 10:05 PM, ara.t.howard wrote:

Here’s my problem. If A1 doesn’t contain the method, what causes
the search to backtrack to the B proxy and follow its super pointer
to the C proxy? This “backtracking” seems counter to the purported
“linear” lookup order. (This is just a conceptual problem for me -
it’s obvious what the lookup order is, and it’s easy to verify.)

as each module in included in the target, it’s entire lookup chain
is added to that target - therefore no ‘backtracking’ is required,
we just end up with a long line that, when followed, happens to give
the appearance if backtracking.

I do understand that that’s how it works in practice. I was trying to
understand the process in terms of its implementation via proxies,
klass, super and m_tbl. If it were truly implemented as a single long
chain, then that would require (in my example) that the A2 proxy’s
super points to the B proxy. Hmmm…I wonder if that’s indeed the
case, as you imply?

///ark

6

On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 10:59 AM, Mark W. [email protected] wrote:

up with a long line that, when followed, happens to give the appearance if
backtracking.

I do understand that that’s how it works in practice. I was trying to
understand the process in terms of its implementation via proxies, klass,
super and m_tbl. If it were truly implemented as a single long chain, then
that would require (in my example) that the A2 proxy’s super points to the B
proxy. Hmmm…I wonder if that’s indeed the case, as you imply?

module A1; end;
module A2; end;
module B; include A1; end
module C; include A2; end
class D; include C; include B; end

results in the chains:

A1
A1
B → proxy1(A1)
C-> proxy2(A2)
D->proxy5(B)->proxy6(A1)->proxy3(C)->proxy4(A2)->Object->proxy0(Kernel)

where proxyn indicates the nth module-proxy in creation order.

When you include a module in a class, the current chain is searched to
see if the module is already included and doesn’t re-include it, and
includes in a given class or module executed later are inserted before
earlier includes in the same class or module, so the chain for the
original set of modules and classes:

module A; end;
module B; include A; end
module C; include A; end
class D; include B; include C; end

The chain for D looks like this:

D->proxy(C)->proxy(B)->proxy(A)->Object->proxy(Kernel)

This can lead to some small surprises for some people. Ruby doesn’t
include a proxy to a given module more than once in any inheritance
chain, because of the way it implements finding overridden methods
when resolving super. MRI doesn’t keep track of the place in the
chain where it found the currently executing method, so to find the
method to be invoked for super, it searches again from the start until
it finds the current METHOD, then searches from the next link in the
chain. If a module proxy were repeated then this wouldn’t work
because some cases would loop. See the two articles below:

http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/articles/2007/06/02/chain-chain-chain
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/articles/2007/11/03/a-chat-with-matz-classs-variable-reversion-and-a-mystery-explained

–
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/