ruby object model + class creation based on another class

Question

my question may be very basic n foolish but i m confused why the output is this way.

MyClass = Class.new String
MyClass.ancestors
=> [MyClass, String, ..]

AnotherClass = Class.new MyClass
=> AnotherClass 
AnotherClass.ancestors
=> [AnotherClass, MyClass, String, ..]

in the above code, i m creating a new instance of Class named MyClass and have passed the object(everything in ruby is an object) 'String' as the parameter. Why does 'String' occur in the ancestors list for MyClass. I haven't inherited MyClass from String but that's what ruby seems to be doing. It does work as copy constructor but why the inheritance?

Jiří Pospíšil · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-12 14:18:40Z

3

The following

class A < B
end

is in fact just a syntax sugar for

A = Class.new B

See Random Ruby Tricks: Class.new and the official docs for more info.

answered Feb 12, 2013 at 14:18

Jiří Pospíšil

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1 Comment

Prasad Surase Over a year ago

thanks. now i get why Object is the default superclass. i thought it might be setting some internal pointer in the cpp code but this is set in Class.new. thanks again.

Jörg W Mittag · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-12 14:55:23Z

1

I haven't inherited MyClass from String

Yes you have. That's what the argument to Class::new means:

new(super_class=Object) → a_class

Creates a new anonymous (unnamed) class with the given superclass (or Object if no parameter is given).

answered Feb 12, 2013 at 14:55

Jörg W Mittag

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ruby object model + class creation based on another class

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`new(super_class=Object)` → `a_class`

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new(super_class=Object) → a_class

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`new(super_class=Object)` → `a_class`