Ruby monkey patching culture

When you do it well, it makes your code feel more like ruby. Monkey patching in particular is an extremely powerful tool. A monkey patch being a subtle change to an existing algorithm only observable if you have seen both the new and the base specification. This practice, known as monkey patching, is common in the ruby world, and since ruby. In ruby, its possible to add methods to absolutely any class including string, integer and other core classes.

However, a powerful tool in the wrong hands will cause endless amounts of pain and suffering. There appears to be trend where specifications monkey patch a base specification. When we see an opportunity to move a util method to one of the existing rubys standard classes, thats when we open the existing ruby class and add that method there. I wrote the following code which will allow me to multiply a vektor with a number and two vectors with each other. If youre looking to level up your js skills, its important you learn the beauty of monkey patching. Why rubys monkey patching is better than land mines. Were in the future, and with github and bundler there is now rarely a need to monkeypatch ruby code in your applications monkeypatching is the dangerousyetfrequentlyuseful technique of reopening existing classes to change or add to their behavior. The ability to change the way classes behave at runtimeaka monkeypatching has been used by many libraries and frameworks to decorate rubys core classes with additions andor replacements. This videos shows you what monkey patching is in ruby. The name monkeypatching basically comes from older times where you needed to do hot patches fixes or changeinject new functionality, especially into 3rd party code which you depended on, but couldnt change the original. You can read the definition in the wikipedia link i provided, but in short, it is a way to modify the behavior of a class or instance of a class at runtime without changing the source of that class or instance. But just like any of ruby s sharp edges, you have to take extra care when you use them. Rubys open classes are powerful but can easily be misused. Starting off the list for examples of metaprogramming is monkey patching.

Whats the deal with monkeypatching and why is everyone. And that could lead to side effect if we are not careful. As python is a dynamic programming language, classes are mutable so you can reopen them and modify or even replace them. In todays tutorial well be looking at monkey patching in ruby. Im taking the ruby standard library class numeric parent of all number based classes in ruby such as integer and float, opening it back up and. Ive been using ruby for quite some time, but it was only recently that i found a hidden gem in the standard library, the set class. Forget about that strange name and lets call it changing the behavior of the original code. Pragmatic uses of monkey patching in javascript sitepoint. Compared to utility classes, its a hell of a lot more convenient, and it reads better. Writing a class that is really immutable in python is really hard, if not impossible. Going with the most general of definitions, such as a way to extend or modify the runtime code of dynamic languages is problematic in ruby, because it would cover. You can see how i monkey patched dojos menu widget as a real example.

Is there a purely technical term for monkey patching. Its a problem in the language, but not as big as youd think due to culture. Monkey patching is reopening the existing classes or methods in class at runtime and changing the behavior, which should be used cautiously, or you should use it only when you really need to. One of the best, and worst, features of ruby is monkeypatching, extending the languages builtin classes and modules to suit your desires. Lets start with writing the spec of where i want the model to be i am using validattribute if the specs dont look familiar, i suggest you try it test spec your validations. Duck typing a programming concept that is primarily concerned with the methods that can be run on an object rather than the class of the object. Hopefully, after reading this post youll have a better idea what youre doing, and. The above statement asserts that the ruby usage is incorrect but terms evolve, and thats not always a bad thing. However, just because a tool is powerful, does not make it the right tool for the job.

Sometimes youre doing it the right way for the wrong reasons, other times you are doing it just flat out wrong. Unfortunately, the majority of popular articles are very controversial, and i feel obliged to write a response on one of the so called pros of ruby. One of the most useful among these specialities is that, in ruby, all classes are mutable. These are two different concepts programming approaches. Monkeypatching is the technique of swapping functions or methods with others in order to change a module, library or class behavior there are some people with strong opinions about it.

Monkey patching in javascript when working on a project, we often use libraries that implement methods that arent builtin in the programming language in use. As such, this page will be updated on a regular basis to include additional information and cover emerging ruby techniques. Monkey patching is an essential skill for any advanced javascript developer. This practice, known as monkey patching, is common in the ruby world, and since ruby 2, its been possible to mitigate some of the risks using refinements. Make monkey patching in ruby less risky with refinements. It is also possible to specially name a patched ruby see named rubies for more details.

Yes, its a weird name, but its a powerful and dangerous tool. Monkey patching hereafter referred to as mp is a technique to override, extend or even suppress the default behavior of a code segment without changing its original. It is a powerful technique that has become popular in the ruby community at least in part because the ruby language makes it so easy. Many of rails way elements are associated with how they do it in ruby and too much magic, including infamous convention over configuration principleand extensive monkeypatching if whatever rails team wants to fix. Until you hit weird bugs because a patch changed hash. Ruby makes it easy to extend its builtin classes, which can be very convenient and lead to more readable codebut it can also be dangerous. Take the example below where i am implementing a simplified version of a monkeypatch that rails does. A common approach in ruby is to consider overriding existing methods to be monkey patching, but adding methods not to be, even though most nonruby definitions would include both. Monkey patching is an object oriented programming technique that allows developers to. If that is the source of the idea that monkey patching is derogatory, then he really misunderstood something.

Infoq talked to yusuke to learn more about the big new features of ruby. Currently im playing a little creating an immutable version of dict. Now the question is ruby monkey patching is it good or bad before answering the question lets understand what monkey patching is. Guerillapatch is a ruby gem to ease the transition to ruby 2. And in that context, it was the patching itself that was deemed derogatory. In ruby, python, and many other dynamic programming languages, the term monkey patch only refers to dynamic modifications of a class or module at runtime, motivated by the intent to patch existing thirdparty code as a workaround to a bug or feature which does not act as desired. About more non rails stuff, i started writing small text processing scripts in ruby a few years ago. Monkey patching is less and less frequent im maintaining pure ruby, but also rails app since 2005, is generally considered a bad practice railscentrism is gradually becoming a thing of the past see gems like hanami, roda, sequel, kiba, dryrb etc. Overall ive been pretty happy with its features, ecosystem and libraries for web development, however my previous dabbles into python have left me longing for a yet unimplemented feature. In ruby, the term monkey patch was misunderstood to mean any dynamic modification to a class and is often used as a synonym for dynamically modifying any class at runtime. All references i can find come from the ruby community, that blog post being the oldest reference. This resource contains a collection of ruby best practices and ruby tips provided by our toptal network members. Monkey patching has come to have a reputation of being somewhat evil. Ruby is oblidged to rails with its current popularity, but also with questionable reputation.

Monkey patching, for anyone who doesnt know, refers to the practice of extending or modifying existing code by changing classes at runtime. Refinements ruby monkeypatching redifined red panthers. Even activesupport mostly does adding to the stdlib, not changing existing behaviors. Hello friends, in this video you will learn about monkey patching. Monkey patching is the new black in the ruby community. This process of changing classes runtime is known as monkeypatching in the ruby community. Ruby is like a sharp knife, it can be extremely effective, but its usually your own fault if you cut yourself. Its a very simple helper that adds html comments to the rendered source, so that you can inspect it. To illustrate monkey patching well make some changes to the good old string core class.

Monkey patching is rarely used in daytoday code in the sense of overwriting core libraries. This article looks at how to minimize the risk of opening classes, alternatives, and how other languages provide similar capabilities. Monkeypatching, single responsibility principle, and. In this talk you will learn what monkey patching is all about and whether its.