Calling the new method.

Question

ok the syntax for calling the new method is-
classname.method name
now see this-
Class Dog
def bark
puts "woof"
end
end
d=Dog.new
d.bark
In the last line we are calling the new method and d is the objects name.
which is objectsname.methodname which is contradicting to classname.methodname. which one is the right syntax. plis help thanx

Answer 1

Hi Stephen, check the comments here maybe it's easier to understand:

class Dog # defining a new class (or object) called Dog
def bark # defining a new method for the class (or object) Dog called bark
puts "Woof!"
end
end

d = Dog.new # here we are saying that d is equal to Dog

=begin

So if d is now equal to Dog it will have exactly the same methods inside
and that's the reason why we can call d.bark becaus is exactly the same
result if will call Dog.bark.
The real difference is that we cannot call Dog.bark otherwise Ruby will
complain becuase we created d as Dog but we don't have any live Dog class
You have to imagine that the class (or object) Dog doesn't exists untill
you will create it by associating it to a variable that will heredits its
proprieties included the methods

=end

d.bark # here we call the method bark that is inside d that is a Dog Class

Answer 2

you must distinguish instance method and class method first...