ruby super keyword
From what I understand, super
keyword invokes a method with the same name as the current method in the superclass of the current class. Below in the autoload
method, there is a call to super
. I would like to know in which superclass I would find a method with the same name or what does the call to super
do here
module ActiveSupport
module Autoload
...
def autoload(const_name, path = @@at_path)
full = [self.name, @@under_path, const_name.to_s, path].compact.join("::")
location = path || Inflector.underscore(full)
if @@eager_autoload
@@autoloads[const_name] = location
end
super const_name, location
end
....
end
end
module ActiveRecord
extend ActiveSupport::Autoload
...
autoload :TestCase
autoload :TestFixtures, 'active_record/fixtures'
end
This code is from the rails master branch. Thanks much.
The example provided in the Ruby Docs for the super
keyword:
module Vehicular
def move_forward(n)
@position += n
end
end
class Vehicle
include Vehicular # Adds Vehicular to the lookup path
end
class Car < Vehicle
def move_forward(n)
puts "Vrooom!"
super # Calls Vehicular#move_forward
end
end
Inspecting ancestors
puts Car.ancestors.inspect
# Output
# [Car, Vehicle, Vehicular, Object, Kernel, BasicObject]
Note the inclusion of the Vehicular
Module
object!
Check objRef.class.ancestors
or ClassName.ancestors
to know the inheritance chain. If the super class does not contain the method, then all modules included by the super class are checked (last included checked first). If no match, then it moves up one level to the grandparent class and so on.
You can use the list of ancestors and then call AncestorClass.methods.select{|m| m.include?("auto_load")}
to zone in on the method that's being called.
(Note: the above code is Ruby 1.8. In 1.9 methods
returns symbols instead of strings. so you'd have to do a m.to_s.include?(...
)