Ruby Language Refinements Monkey patching with limited scope
Example
Monkey patching's main issue is that it pollutes the global scope. Your code working is at the mercy of all the modules you use not stepping on each others toes. The Ruby solution to this is refinements, which are basically monkey patches in a limited scope.
module Patches
refine Fixnum do
def plus_one
self + 1
end
def plus(num)
self + num
end
def concat_one
self.to_s + '1'
end
end
end
class RefinementTest
# has access to our patches
using Patches
def initialize
puts 1.plus_one
puts 3.concat_one
end
end
# Main scope doesn't have changes
1.plus_one
# => undefined method `plus_one' for 1:Fixnum (NoMethodError)
RefinementTest.new
# => 2
# => '31'
