I want to pass instance variables to a method, which then modifies them. This is because I have the same logic for different instance variables. Is this possible? I haven't got it working.
class A
def update_ivar()
update(@ivar)
end
def update(var)
var = 1
end
def print_ivar()
puts @ivar
puts @ivar == nil
end
end
a = A.new
a.update_ivar()
a.print_ivar()
Output
true
You can use instance_variable_set like this:
class A
def update_ivar
update(:@ivar) # Note the symbolized name here, it is not the variable itself
end
def update(var_name)
instance_variable_set(var_name, 1)
end
def print_ivar
puts @ivar
puts @ivar == nil
end
end
a = A.new
a.update_ivar
a.print_ivar
#=> 1
#=> false
I personally wouldn't like such a pattern because it leads to hard to read and understand code. But is it a code smell? That certainly depends on your application and your exact use case.
Array, aHash, or a similar container structure. You could do the same with instance variables, passing their name and looking them up using introspection, but that is an anti-pattern (less readable, less safe, and probably also less fast).