Backport from ruby 1.9, including constants

ruby-talk
1

Hello all.

During last several monthes I've worked on some library, using the latest
ruby1.9. Now I want to release the library to community, but first I need to
"backport" it.
One small problem I've stumbled upon:

module Constants
  TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

a.instance_eval{
  extend Constants
  p TEST #<== here
}

At the "here" string, ruby1.9 had printed "5", but ruby 1.8.5 raises
NameError (uninitialized constant TEST).

I know, the question is silly, but I can't find how to do this. (by some
reasons, the code should affect only one object, not entire class)

Thanks.

V.

2

The only solutions I can think of involve explicitly referencing the class:

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

a.instance_eval {
   extend Constants
   singleton_class::TEST
}

But at that point it is probably easier to simply reference Constants
directly:

a.instance_eval {
   t = Constants::TEST
}

It does seem a bit strange to be adding constants to the singleton class.
Why not add them to A itself? That way you don't need to extend the
singleton class with the Constants module.

class A
   include Constants
end

A.new.instance_eval {
   p self.class::TEST # still a bit ugly...
}

Gary Wright

···

On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:02 PM, Victor Zverok Shepelev wrote:

module Constants
  TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

a.instance_eval{
  extend Constants
  p TEST #<== here
}

3

class << a
  extend Constants
  p TEST
end

···

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:02:37 +0900, Victor \"Zverok\" Shepelev wrote:

Hello all.

During last several monthes I've worked on some library, using the latest
ruby1.9. Now I want to release the library to community, but first I need to
"backport" it.
One small problem I've stumbled upon:

module Constants
  TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

a.instance_eval{
  extend Constants
  p TEST #<== here
}

At the "here" string, ruby1.9 had printed "5", but ruby 1.8.5 raises
NameError (uninitialized constant TEST).

I know, the question is silly, but I can't find how to do this. (by some
reasons, the code should affect only one object, not entire class)

--
Ken Bloom. PhD candidate. Linguistic Cognition Laboratory.
Department of Computer Science. Illinois Institute of Technology.
http://www.iit.edu/~kbloom1/

4

Victor "Zverok" Shepelev wrote:

Hello all.

During last several monthes I've worked on some library, using the latest
ruby1.9. Now I want to release the library to community, but first I need to
"backport" it.
One small problem I've stumbled upon:

module Constants
  TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

a.instance_eval{
  extend Constants
  p TEST #<== here
}

At the "here" string, ruby1.9 had printed "5", but ruby 1.8.5 raises
NameError (uninitialized constant TEST).

module Constants
   TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

m = Module.new
def m.const_missing k
   Constants.const_get(k) || super(k)
end

string_from_file = <<END
   TEST
END

test = m.module_eval %{
   a.instance_eval {
     #{string_from_file}
   }
}

p test # ==> 5

···

--
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

5

module Constants
  TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

a.instance_eval{
  extend Constants
  p TEST #<== here
}

[...]

It does seem a bit strange to be adding constants to the singleton
class.
Why not add them to A itself? That way you don't need to extend the
singleton class with the Constants module.

class A
  include Constants
end

A.new.instance_eval {
  p self.class::TEST # still a bit ugly...
}

Just due to this ugliness, and, additionally, I can't (or don't want) modify
entire "A" class. More specifically, I have something like "scripts" -
files, which are loaded and evaluated inside some objects. For example (it's
about new GUI library, BTW):

File tabs.rs ("rs" for "Ruby Script" :slight_smile:

···

From: Gary Wright [mailto:gwtmp01@mac.com]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 2:33 AM

On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:02 PM, Victor Zverok Shepelev wrote:

------
extend Win32::Keys
on(TAB) do
  ...blah
end

on(SHIFT, TAB) do
  ... blah, blah
end
-----

This "script" is represents "tabs" behavior and it is evaluated in context
of UI element, which I want this behavior to be added.
The more verbose version, which is enforced by ruby 1.8.5, I don't like at
all:

on(Win32::Keys::TAB) do #fuuuuuu!

It's a problem, so :frowning:

V.

6

Hello all.

During last several monthes I've worked on some library, using the latest
ruby1.9. Now I want to release the library to community, but first I need

to

"backport" it.
One small problem I've stumbled upon:

module Constants
  TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

a.instance_eval{
  extend Constants
  p TEST #<== here
}

At the "here" string, ruby1.9 had printed "5", but ruby 1.8.5 raises
NameError (uninitialized constant TEST).

I know, the question is silly, but I can't find how to do this. (by some
reasons, the code should affect only one object, not entire class)

class << a
extend Constants
p TEST
end

Not exactly what I want.
I need "TEST" constant to be visible inside a.instance_eval

V.

···

From: Ken Bloom [mailto:kbloom@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 3:10 AM

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:02:37 +0900, Victor \"Zverok\" Shepelev wrote:

7

This uses eval on a string, which can be dangerous, but if you are already
reading script files and executing them....

module X
   TEST = 5
end

class A; end
a = A.new

class <<a
   def instance_binding
     binding
   end
end

script = "extend X; p TEST" # could read this from a file

eval script, a.instance_binding # XXX dangerous

···

On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:41 PM, Victor Zverok Shepelev wrote:

Just due to this ugliness, and, additionally, I can't (or don't want) modify
entire "A" class. More specifically, I have something like "scripts" -
files, which are loaded and evaluated inside some objects. For example (it's
about new GUI library, BTW):

8

How about

C=Win32::Keys
on(C::TAB) do
  ...blah
end

on(C::SHIFT, C::TAB) do
  ... blah, blah
end

(or even use c instead of C so you don't allocate another constant)

···

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:41:24 +0900, Victor \"Zverok\" Shepelev wrote:

From: Gary Wright [mailto:gwtmp01@mac.com]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 2:33 AM

On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:02 PM, Victor Zverok Shepelev wrote:

module Constants
  TEST = 5
end

class A
end

a = A.new

a.instance_eval{
  extend Constants
  p TEST #<== here
}

[...]

It does seem a bit strange to be adding constants to the singleton
class.
Why not add them to A itself? That way you don't need to extend the
singleton class with the Constants module.

class A
  include Constants
end

A.new.instance_eval {
  p self.class::TEST # still a bit ugly...
}

Just due to this ugliness, and, additionally, I can't (or don't want) modify
entire "A" class. More specifically, I have something like "scripts" -
files, which are loaded and evaluated inside some objects. For example (it's
about new GUI library, BTW):

File tabs.rs ("rs" for "Ruby Script" :slight_smile:
------
extend Win32::Keys
on(TAB) do
  ...blah
end

on(SHIFT, TAB) do
  ... blah, blah
end
-----

This "script" is represents "tabs" behavior and it is evaluated in context
of UI element, which I want this behavior to be added.
The more verbose version, which is enforced by ruby 1.8.5, I don't like at
all:

on(Win32::Keys::TAB) do #fuuuuuu!

It's a problem, so :frowning:

V.

--
Ken Bloom. PhD candidate. Linguistic Cognition Laboratory.
Department of Computer Science. Illinois Institute of Technology.
http://www.iit.edu/~kbloom1/

9

Just due to this ugliness, and, additionally, I can't (or don't
want) modify
entire "A" class. More specifically, I have something like "scripts" -
files, which are loaded and evaluated inside some objects. For
example (it's
about new GUI library, BTW):

This uses eval on a string, which can be dangerous, but if you are
already
reading script files and executing them....

module X
  TEST = 5
end

class A; end
a = A.new

class <<a
  def instance_binding
    binding
  end
end

script = "extend X; p TEST" # could read this from a file

eval script, a.instance_binding # XXX dangerous

Thanks, Gary.
I suppose, it's the only way to have constants from some module visible
inside some_object.instance_eval ?

V.

···

From: Gary Wright [mailto:gwtmp01@mac.com]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 3:26 AM

On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:41 PM, Victor Zverok Shepelev wrote:

10

Maybe someone else will come up with something but I think the main
problem is that instance_eval with a code block does not actually
provide the same binding context as a method definition within a class
block. That is what led me to grabbing the exact context you were
looking for with Kernel#binding and using the string version of eval.

I haven't reviewed the Ruby 1.9 constant lookup changes recently but
I think that they lean towards a more 'dynamic' rather than
'lexical' approach, which seems to be what a lot of people expect and
get surprised by in Ruby 1.8.X.

Gary Wright

···

On Feb 11, 2007, at 8:28 PM, Victor "Zverok" Shepelev wrote:

Thanks, Gary.
I suppose, it's the only way to have constants from some module visible
inside some_object.instance_eval ?