I just came across an interesting article called “Monkeypatching is Destroying Ruby” on a blog with the admirable name, ‘Virtuous Code’. The author, Avdi Grimm, a long-time Ruby programmer, observes that the current trend among many Ruby developers is to extend the functionality of existing code using metaprogramming. This practice is called “Monkeypatching” - a term that is new to me but seems appropriately descriptive.
Metaprogramming is a powerful (...)
Thanks for the mention. Personally I’d hate to see any kind of strictures which *prevent* monkey patching added to Ruby; its permissiveness is one of its strengths. As I see it the only viable ways to tackle this phenomenon are a) to set a good example; and b) to provide tools that make doing the right thing easier than the equivalent monkey-patched solution. My blog post was an attempt to encourage the former; I hope to start working on the latter in the near future.
