This module has revealed to you the mysteries of Ruby's self
keyword. Remember
that you can think of self
as a Ruby program asking the question: "Who am I
right now?" It's a special variable that points to the object associated with
the code we're currently executing. We walked through how to use it properly. We
explored the concept of "monkey patching," the practice of adding methods to or
altering Ruby's core classes—which is a great thing to know, but be careful
about using it in your programs! We also covered how to use attr_accessor
,
attr_reader
, and attr_writer
as needed.
The concept of Ruby's self
might be an initially confusing one, but, armed
with the knowledge and experience you've gained over the past several lessons,
you're prepared to implement it in a variety of future situations.