Tweak

(C) John Mair (banisterfiend) 2010

Scoped modification of core classes

Add temporary functionality to core classes.

Based on some ideas found in this Ruby-Forum thread

Tweak provides the using method.

• Install the gem: gem install tweak
• Read the documentation
• See the source code

example: using

With the using method we can enhance a core class for the duration of a block:

module Tweaks
  
  class String
    def hello
      :hello
    end
  end

  class Fixnum
    Hello = :hello
    
    def bye
      :bye
    end
  end
  
end

using Tweaks do
  "john".hello #=> :hello
  5.bye #=> :bye
  Fixnum::Hello #=> :hello
end

"john".hello #=> NameError

How it works

Makes use of the Remix and Object2module libraries. Note that Tweak modifies core classes by what is effectively a module inclusion, this means you cannot use Tweak to override existing functionality but more to augment and supplement that functionality.

Tweak works by doing the following:

• Looks for top-level classes and modules with the same name as those defined under the using-module.
• Uses Object2module to include the corresponding class/module defined under the using-module into the top-level class/module of the same name.
• Uses Remix to uninclude that functionality at the end of the using block.

Also look at the Remix library's temp_include and temp_extend methods for a more general solution than Tweak.

Thread Safety

Tweak is not threadsafe.

Limitations

Does not work with nested modules, e.g class String::SomethingElse

This is not intended to be a robust or serious solution, it's just a little experiment. :)

Companion Libraries

Tweak is one of a series of experimental libraries that mess with the internals of Ruby to bring new and interesting functionality to the language, see also:

• Remix - Makes ancestor chains read/write
• Object2module - Enables you to include/extend Object/Classes.
• Include Complete - Brings in module singleton classes during an include. No more ugly ClassMethods and included() hook hacks.
• Prepend - Prepends modules in front of a class; so method lookup starts with the module
• GenEval - A strange new breed of instance_eval
• LocalEval - instance_eval without changing self

Contact

Problems or questions contact me at github