Modules

Modules serve two purposes:

• as namespaces for defining other types, methods and constants
• as partial types that can be mixed in other types

An example of a module as a namespace:

module Curses
  class Window
  end
end
Curses::Window.new

Library authors are advised to put their definitions inside a module to avoid name clashes. The standard library usually doesn’t have a namespace as its types and methods are very common, to avoid writing long names.

To use a module as a partial type you use include or extend.

An include makes a type include methods defined in that module as instance methods:

module ItemsSize
  def size
    items.size
  end
end
class Items
  include ItemsSize
  def items
    [1, 2, 3]
  end
end
items = Items.new
items.size # => 3

In the above example, it is as if we pasted the size method from the module into the Items class. The way this really works is by making each type have a list of ancestors, or parents. By default this list starts with the superclass. As modules are included they are prepended to this list. When a method is not found in a type it is looked up in this list. When you invoke super, the first type in this ancestors list is used.

A module can include other modules, so when a method is not found in it it will be looked up in the included modules.

An extend makes a type include methods defined in that module as class methods:

module SomeSize
  def size
    3
  end
end
class Items
  extend SomeSize
end
Items.size # => 3

Both include and extend make constants defined in the module available to the including/extending type.

Both of them can be used at the top level to avoid writing a namespace over and over (although the chances of name clashes increase):

module SomeModule
  class SomeType
  end
  def some_method
    1
  end
end
include SomeModule
SomeType.new # OK, same as SomeModule::SomeType
some_method  # OK, 1

extend self

A common pattern for modules is extend self:

module Base64
  extend self
  def encode64(string)
    # ...
  end
  def decode64(string)
    # ...
  end
end

In this way a module can be used as a namespace:

Base64.encode64 "hello" # => "aGVsbG8="

But also it can be included in the program and its methods can be invoked without a namespace:

include Base64
encode64 "hello" # => "aGVsbG8="

For this to be useful the method name should have some reference to the module, otherwise chances of name clashes are high.

A module cannot be instantiated:

module Moo
end
Moo.new # undefined method 'new' for Moo:Module

Module Type Checking

Modules can also be used for type checking.

If we define two modules with names A and B:

module A; end
module B; end

These can be included into classes:

class One
  include A
end
class Two
  include B
end
class Three < Two
  include A
end

We can then type check against instances of these classes with not only their class, but the included modules as well:

one = One.new
typeof(one)  # => One
one.is_a?(A) # => true
one.is_a?(B) # => false
three = Three.new
typeof(three)  # => Three
three.is_a?(A) # => true
three.is_a?(B) # => true

This allows you to define arrays and methods based on module type instead of class:

one = One.new
two = Two.new
three = Three.new
new_array = Array(A).new
new_array << one   # Ok, One inherits module A
new_array << three # Ok, Three includes module A
new_array << two # Error, because Two does not inherit module A