I have a class and two class methods: self.encode and self.decode. The encode method expects a class variable (@@table) to be "initialized". Whereas it's possible to do that in def self.encode(bytes) method of my class, I was interested to know if I can do that elsewhere (static blocks, a la Java?). What is the recommended way to do such class initialization tasks? -Kedar -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.