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Ruby Ruby Foundations Testing MiniTest

Posted by Sebastian Velandia
Sebastian Velandia
24,676 Points

What is the difference of "extend" and the "<" sign?

Hello, I just want to know the differences, in the videos Jason never elaborate about the "<" when namming a class. What I understood is that it brings the methods that has the module in front of the "<" simbol? but I though that was made by the "extend" keywork

So now I feel confused with this new concept. Thanks for the help

1 Answer

Ronald Jackson
Ronald Jackson
9,229 Points

Hi Sebastian,

In Ruby, when you create a class and put the < sign after it, it means the class inherits from another one. For example.

class Pet

attr_accessor :name, :age, :gender, :color

class Dog < Pet

The < sign means the Dog class inherits the attributes of the Pet class.

Extend relates to modules. Check out http://www.railstips.org/blog/archives/2009/05/15/include-vs-extend-in-ruby/ for a good discussion of the use of extend in modules.

Hope this helps to clarify things.

Happy coding,

Ronald

Sebastian Velandia
Sebastian Velandia
24,676 Points

Thanks for your explanation =) now it's clear to me it's inheritance lol thanks!