Class: BasicObject

Returns true if two objects are not-equal, otherwise false.

Equality — At the ::Object level, #== returns true only if obj and other are the same object. Typically, this method is overridden in descendant classes to provide class-specific meaning.

Unlike #==, the #equal? method should never be overridden by subclasses as it is used to determine object identity (that is, a.equal?(b) if and only if a is the same object as b):

obj = "a"
other = obj.dup

obj == other      #=> true
obj.equal? other  #=> false
obj.equal? obj    #=> true

The #eql? method returns true if obj and other refer to the same hash key. This is used by ::Hash to test members for equality. For any pair of objects where #eql? returns true, the #hash value of both objects must be equal. So any subclass that overrides #eql? should also override #hash appropriately.

For objects of class ::Object, #eql? is synonymous with #==. Subclasses normally continue this tradition by aliasing #eql? to their overridden #== method, but there are exceptions. ::Numeric types, for example, perform type conversion across #==, but not across #eql?, so:

1 == 1.0     #=> true
1.eql? 1.0   #=> false

Returns an integer identifier for obj.

The same number will be returned on all calls to object_id for a given object, and no two active objects will share an id.

Note: that some objects of builtin classes are reused for optimization. This is the case for immediate values and frozen string literals.

BasicObject implements __id__, ::Kernel implements object_id.

Immediate values are not passed by reference but are passed by value: nil, true, false, Fixnums, Symbols, and some Floats.

Object.new.object_id  == Object.new.object_id  # => false
(21 * 2).object_id    == (21 * 2).object_id    # => true
"hello".object_id     == "hello".object_id     # => false
"hi".freeze.object_id == "hi".freeze.object_id # => true

Invokes the method identified by symbol, passing it any arguments specified. When the method is identified by a string, the string is converted to a symbol.

BasicObject implements __send__, ::Kernel implements send. __send__ is safer than send when obj has the same method name like Socket. See also public_send.

class Klass
  def hello(*args)
    "Hello " + args.join(' ')
  end
end
k = Klass.new
k.send :hello, "gentle", "readers"   #=> "Hello gentle readers"

Alias for #==.

Evaluates a string containing Ruby source code, or the given block, within the context of the receiver (obj). In order to set the context, the variable self is set to obj while the code is executing, giving the code access to obj’s instance variables and private methods.

When instance_eval is given a block, obj is also passed in as the block’s only argument.

When instance_eval is given a ::String, the optional second and third parameters supply a filename and starting line number that are used when reporting compilation errors.

class KlassWithSecret
  def initialize
    @secret = 99
  end
  private
  def the_secret
    "Ssssh! The secret is #{@secret}."
  end
end
k = KlassWithSecret.new
k.instance_eval { @secret }          #=> 99
k.instance_eval { the_secret }       #=> "Ssssh! The secret is 99."
k.instance_eval {|obj| obj == self } #=> true

Executes the given block within the context of the receiver (obj). In order to set the context, the variable self is set to obj while the code is executing, giving the code access to obj’s instance variables. Arguments are passed as block parameters.

class KlassWithSecret
  def initialize
    @secret = 99
  end
end
k = KlassWithSecret.new
k.instance_exec(5) {|x| @secret+x }   #=> 104

Invoked as a callback whenever a singleton method is added to the receiver.

module Chatty
  def Chatty.singleton_method_added(id)
    puts "Adding #{id.id2name}"
  end
  def self.one()     end
  def two()          end
  def Chatty.three() end
end

produces:

Adding singleton_method_added
Adding one
Adding three

Invoked as a callback whenever a singleton method is removed from the receiver.

module Chatty
  def Chatty.singleton_method_removed(id)
    puts "Removing #{id.id2name}"
  end
  def self.one()     end
  def two()          end
  def Chatty.three() end
  class << self
    remove_method :three
    remove_method :one
  end
end

produces:

Removing three
Removing one

Invoked as a callback whenever a singleton method is undefined in the receiver.

module Chatty
  def Chatty.singleton_method_undefined(id)
    puts "Undefining #{id.id2name}"
  end
  def Chatty.one()   end
  class << self
     undef_method(:one)
  end
end

produces:

Undefining one