class << self idiom in Ruby

class << self在Ruby中做什么？

---

First, the class << foo syntax opens up foo 's singleton class (eigenclass). This allows you to specialise the behaviour of methods called on that specific object.

a = 'foo'
class << a
  def inspect
    '"bar"'
  end
end
a.inspect   # => "bar"

a = 'foo'   # new object, new singleton class
a.inspect   # => "foo"

---

Now, to answer the question: class << self opens up self 's singleton class, so that methods can be redefined for the current self object (which inside a class or module body is the class or module itself). Usually, this is used to define class/module ("static") methods:

class String
  class << self
    def value_of obj
      obj.to_s
    end
  end
end

String.value_of 42   # => "42"

This can also be written as a shorthand:

class String
  def self.value_of obj
    obj.to_s
  end
end

Or even shorter:

def String.value_of obj
  obj.to_s
end

---

When inside a function definition, self refers to the object the function is being called with. In this case, class << self opens the singleton class for that object; one use of that is to implement a poor man's state machine:

class StateMachineExample
  def process obj
    process_hook obj
  end

private
  def process_state_1 obj
    # ...
    class << self
      alias process_hook process_state_2
    end
  end

  def process_state_2 obj
    # ...
    class << self
      alias process_hook process_state_1
    end
  end

  # Set up initial state
  alias process_hook process_state_1
end

So, in the example above, each instance of StateMachineExample has process_hook aliased to process_state_1 , but note how in the latter, it can redefine process_hook (for self only, not affecting other StateMachineExample instances) to process_state_2 . So, each time a caller calls the process method (which calls the redefinable process_hook ), the behaviour changes depending on what state it's in.

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I found a super simple explanation about class << self , Eigenclass and different type of methods in this blog.

In Ruby, there are three types of methods that can be applied to a class:

Instance methods

Singleton methods

Class methods

Instance methods and class methods are almost similar to their homonymous in other programming languages.

class Foo  
  def an_instance_method  
    puts "I am an instance method"  
  end  
  def self.a_class_method  
    puts "I am a class method"  
  end  
end

foo = Foo.new

def foo.a_singleton_method
  puts "I am a singletone method"
end

Another way of accessing an Eigenclass (which includes singleton methods) is with the following syntax ( class << ):

foo = Foo.new

class << foo
  def a_singleton_method
    puts "I am a singleton method"
  end
end

now you can define a singleton method for self which is the class Foo itself in this context:

class Foo
  class << self
    def a_singleton_and_class_method
      puts "I am a singleton method for self and a class method for Foo"
    end
  end
end

---

What class << thing does:

class Hi
  self #=> Hi
  class << self #same as 'class << Hi'
    self #=> #<Class:Hi>
    self == Hi.singleton_class #=> true
  end
end

[it makes self == thing.singleton_class in the context of its block] .

---

What is thing.singleton_class?

hi = String.new
def hi.a
end

hi.class.instance_methods.include? :a #=> false
hi.singleton_class.instance_methods.include? :a #=> true

hi object inherits its #methods from its #singleton_class.instance_methods and then from its #class.instance_methods .
Here we gave hi 's singleton class instance method :a . It could have been done with class << hi instead.
hi 's #singleton_class has all instance methods hi 's #class has, and possibly some more ( :a here).

[instance methods of thing's #class and #singleton_class can be applied directly to thing. when ruby sees thing.a, it first looks for :a method definition in thing.singleton_class.instance_methods and then in thing.class.instance_methods]

---

By the way - they call object's singleton class == metaclass == eigenclass .

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