gistfile1.rb

class Object
  def method_missing(symbol, *args, &block)
    if(args.nil?)
      symbol.to_s
    else
      "#{symbol.to_s} #{args[0].to_s}" 
    end
  end
end
   
puts "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
puts the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

# Outputs:
# >> the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
# >> the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog                       

One of the reasons I absolutely love Ruby. Metaprogramming let's you re-open the Object base-class, override the method_missing method and have it build a string on the fly from undefined, anonymous method signatures, recursively, taking each anonymously defined token and using its string conversion as the parameter for the next. Magic.

This is basic stuff really. Watch Meta programming by Dave Thomas for some even cooler stuff.

I've had his screencast series on metaprogramming for ages now. Very cool stuff indeed. This is a simple example from the Ruby class we've been doing at OTB, posted mainly for the benefit of the non Ruby programmers following :-)