How to dynamically create instance methods at runtime?

Question

[ruby 1.8]

Assume I have:

dummy \"string\" do
    puts \"thing\" 
end

Now, this is a call to a method which has as

Answer 1

Yes, there are a few options.

The first is method_missing. Its first argument is a symbol which is the method that was called, and the remaining arguments are the arguments that were used.

class MyClass
  def method_missing(meth, *args, &block)
    # handle the method dispatch as you want;
    # call super if you cannot resolve it
  end
end

The other option is dynamically creating the instance methods at runtime, if you know in advance which methods will be needed. This should be done in the class, and one example is like this:

class MyClass
  1.upto(1000) do |n|
    define_method :"method_#{n}" do
      puts "I am method #{n}!"
    end
  end
end

It is a common pattern to have define_method called in a class method which needs to create new instance methods at runtime.