Feature #9768
open
Method that is visible only within a certain module/class
Description
Some frameworks/libraries monkeypatch their own methods on Ruby core classes like String, Hash, Array, etc., and that is often causing problems/concerns of name conflict.
Seeing that these custom methods are used only in the context of a certain module/class, I request for a way to define a method (foo) on a module/class (A) so that it will be visible only from within a specified module/class (B) or its descendants. The following illustrates this situation:
A.new.foo # => undefined
class B
A.new.foo # => defined
def bar
A.new.foo # => defined
end
def self.baz
A.new.foo # => defined
end
end
class C < B
A.new.foo # => defined
def bar
A.new.foo # => defined
end
def self.baz
A.new.foo # => defined
end
end
I do not have a certain syntax for this in mind, but I think it can be made much simpler, compared to the complicated syntax of refinement.
This is reminiscent of refinement, but they are pretty much different.
Refinement's purpose is to let certain methods be accessible from only a certain file. A typical use case would be a library developer defining their methods to be used from within the library and making such methods inaccessible from the end user.
On the other hand, the idea I am proposing here is for making method accessible from any file, but only within a certain module/class. A typical use case would be defining a method to be used by an end user, but only from within a context of certain module/class.
Updated by