> LçÉettçËäº Edgardo Hames <ehames / gmail.com>
> Aihe: "Duck Typing" or "No need for abstract classes"
> 
> Hi, you all.
> 
> I'm working on a new small project where several network protocols are
> to be supported. I had an idea about how to implement it and it
> resembled something like this.
> 
> class Protocol
>   abstract :login, :logout, :send, :receive
> end
> 
> class MyProtocol < Protocol
>   def login
>     # does something useful
>   end
>   ... # so on
> end
> 
> Then my network client would just call the methods of a Protocol
> object without caring about the actual classes that implement it (yes,
> you're right, I come from a static typing background). But then I read
> something (I don't remember where :( ) which said that agile languages
> don't need to implement so many patterns and I think I saw the light!
> 
> I don't need a Protocol class, the network client should just call the
> methods of the protocol and duck typing should do all the magic. Am I
> right? Am I coming a little closer to walking the Ruby Way?
> 
> Please, post a positive reply and you just may save me a couple of
> therapy sessions :P

Yep, you're right. It doesn't matter what the type of an object you
have as long as it responds to the method you're trying to invoke. 

If it walks like a...

> Kind Regards,
> Ed

E

P.S. Object#respond_to? is a good method to keep in mind.