# What kind of inheritance is that?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-kind-of-inheritance-is-that/159348>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 3, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-kind-of-inheritance-is-that/159348 "2009-02-03T19:33:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lz-coelho](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/8c91f0/32.png) [@lz-coelho](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/lz-coelho)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-kind-of-inheritance-is-that/159348/1 "2009-02-03T19:33:57Z")

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I founded this code at WEBrick library:

class HTTPServer \< ::WEBrick::GenericServer  
def initialize(config={}, default=Config::HTTP)  
super

What kind of inheritance is HTTPServer \<\< ::WEBrick, I don’t undestand  
de ::  
before. What does it means?

–  
Regards,

Luiz Vitor Martinez C.  
cel.: (11) 8187-8662  
blog: [rubz.org](http://rubz.org)  
engineer student at maua.br

“Posso nunca chegar a ser o melhor engenheiro do mundo, mas tenha  
certeza de  
que eu vou lutar com todas as minhas forças para ser o melhor engenheiro  
que  
eu puder ser”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lz-coelho](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/8c91f0/32.png) [@lz-coelho](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/lz-coelho)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-kind-of-inheritance-is-that/159348/2 "2009-02-03T19:38:06Z")

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> What kind of inheritance is HTTPServer \<\< ::WEBrick, I don’t undestand de ::  
> before. What does it means?

It’s there to make sure the right class is used. Try:

class A  
def foo  
“a”  
end  
end

module B  
class A  
def foo  
“ba”  
end  
end

```
p A.new.foo
p ::A.new.foo

```

end

“ba”  
“a”  
=\> nil