Add a variable to a class instance at runtime: Difference between revisions

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This demonstrates how to dynamically add variables to a class instance at runtime. This is useful when the methods/variables are based on a data file that isn't available until runtime. Hal Fulton gives an example of creating an OO CSV parser at [http://www.devsource.com/article2/0,1759,1928562,00.asp An Exercise in Metaprogramming with Ruby]
This demonstrates how to dynamically add variables to a class instance at runtime. This is useful when the methods/variables are based on a data file that isn't available until runtime. Hal Fulton gives an example of creating an OO CSV parser at [http://www.devsource.com/article2/0,1759,1928562,00.asp An Exercise in Metaprogramming with Ruby]. This is referred to as "monkeypatching" by Pythonistas and some others. It's possible in most '''dynamic''' OO languages such as Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk.


==[[Python]]==
==[[Python]]==

Revision as of 22:38, 16 October 2007

Task
Add a variable to a class instance at runtime
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This demonstrates how to dynamically add variables to a class instance at runtime. This is useful when the methods/variables are based on a data file that isn't available until runtime. Hal Fulton gives an example of creating an OO CSV parser at An Exercise in Metaprogramming with Ruby. This is referred to as "monkeypatching" by Pythonistas and some others. It's possible in most dynamic OO languages such as Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk.

Python

class empty(object):
  pass
e = empty()
e.foo = 1  ## (alternatively: setattr(e, "foo", 1))
print e.foo

Ruby

class Empty
end
e = Empty.new
e.instance_variable_set("@foo", 1)
e.instance_eval("class << self; attr_accessor :foo; end")
puts e.foo