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Add Avoid Dynamically Dispatching Private Methods as a Ruby TIL

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jbranchaud
2026-07-09 11:07:04 -05:00
parent 02ea96f15f
commit 33c8838d56
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# Avoid Dynamically Dispatching Private Methods
Ruby makes it easy to call any method on an object with the
[`Object#send`](https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/4.0/Object.html#method-i-send)
method. It's powerful because I can dynamically call methods (e.g. based on a
variable that is being passed in) and I can even dispatch private methods which
is normally disallowed.
```ruby
obj.send(:initialize, new_args)
```
If I want the benefits of dynamic dispatch without allow private methods to be
called, then I can instead reach for the
[`Object#public_send`](https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/4.0/Object.html#method-i-public_send)
method.
Here is a basic `Invoice` class to demonstrate:
```ruby
class Invoice
TAX_RATE = 0.08
def initialize(subtotal:)
@subtotal = subtotal
end
def total
(@subtotal + tax).round(2)
end
private
def tax
@subtotal * TAX_RATE
end
end
invoice1 = Invoice.new(subtotal: 250)
puts "Total: #{invoice1.send(:total)}"
puts "Tax: #{invoice1.send(:tax)}"
# this will error
invoice1.public_send(:tax)
```
When I run this file, the two `send` statements both work while the
`public_send` on a private method raises:
```bash
ruby object_send.rb
Total: 270.0
Tax: 20.0
object_send.rb:25:in 'Kernel#public_send': private method 'tax' called for an instance of Invoice (NoMethodError)
invoice1.public_send(:tax)
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Did you mean? tap
from object_send.rb:25:in '<main>'
```
Where this behavior might be most useful is in a Rails _concern_ file where I am
defining some shared behavior that needs to work dynamically across classes that
are including it.
```ruby
module ValidatesAttachment
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
IMAGE_TYPES = %w[image/gif image/jpeg image/jpg image/png].freeze
MAX_SIZE = 5.megabytes
class_methods do
def validates_attachment(name, content_types: IMAGE_TYPES, max_size: MAX_SIZE, types_message: nil)
validate do
attachment = public_send(name)
# ... validation logic omitted
end
end
end
end
```