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Ruby Programming
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Writable Attributes

Sometimes you need to be able to set an attribute from outside the object. For example, let's assume that the duration that is initially associated with a song is an estimate (perhaps gathered from information on a CD or in the MP3 data). The first time we play the song, we get to find out how long it actually is, and we store this new value back in the Song object.

In languages such as C++ and Java, you'd do this with setter functions.

class JavaSong {                     // Java code
  private Duration myDuration;
  public void setDuration(Duration newDuration) {
    myDuration = newDuration;
  }
}
s = new Song(....)
s.setDuration(length)

In Ruby, the attributes of an object can be accessed as if they were any other variable. We've seen this above with phrases such as aSong.name. So, it seems natural to be able to assign to these variables when you want to set the value of an attribute. In keeping with the Principle of Least Surprise, that's just what you do in Ruby.

class Song
  def duration=(newDuration)
    @duration = newDuration
  end
end
aSong = Song.new("Bicylops", "Fleck", 260)
aSong.duration 260
aSong.duration = 257   # set attribute with updated value
aSong.duration 257

The assignment ``aSong.duration = 257'' invokes the method duration= in the aSong object, passing it 257 as an argument. In fact, defining a method name ending in an equals sign makes that name eligible to appear on the left-hand side of an assignment.

Again, Ruby provides a shortcut for creating these simple attribute setting methods.

class Song
  attr_writer :duration
end
aSong = Song.new("Bicylops", "Fleck", 260)
aSong.duration = 257
Ruby Programming
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