Private module methods in Ruby

Question

I have a two part question

Best-Practice

• I have an algorithm that performs some operation on a data structure using the public interfa

Answer 1

module Writer
  class << self
    def output(s)
      puts upcase(s)
    end

    private

    def upcase(s)
      s.upcase
    end
  end
end

Writer.output "Hello World"
# -> HELLO WORLD

Writer.upcase "Hello World"
# -> so.rb:16:in `<main>': private method `upcase' called for Writer:Module (NoMethodError)

Answer 2

What's about storing methods as lambdas within class variables/constants?

module MyModule
  @@my_secret_method = lambda {
    # ...
  }
  # ...
end

For test:
UPD: huge update of this code after 6 years shows cleaner way to declare private method d

module A
  @@L = lambda{ "@@L" }
  def self.a ; @@L[] ; end
  def self.b ; a ; end

  class << self
    def c ; @@L[] ; end
    private
    def d ; @@L[] ; end
  end
  def self.e ; c ; end
  def self.f ; self.c ; end
  def self.g ; d ; end
  def self.h ; self.d ; end

  private
  def self.i ; @@L[] ; end
  class << self
    def j ; @@L[] ; end
  end

  public
  def self.k ; i ; end
  def self.l ; self.i ; end
  def self.m ; j ; end
  def self.n ; self.j ; end
end

for expr in %w{ A.a A.b A.c A.d A.e A.f A.g A.h A.i A.j A.k A.l A.m A.n }
  puts "#{expr} => #{begin ; eval expr ; rescue => e ; e ; end}"
end

Here we see that:

A.a => @@L
A.b => @@L
A.c => @@L
A.d => private method `d' called for A:Module
A.e => @@L
A.f => @@L
A.g => @@L
A.h => private method `d' called for A:Module
A.i => @@L
A.j => @@L
A.k => @@L
A.l => @@L
A.m => @@L
A.n => @@L

1) @@L can not be accesses from outside but is accessible from almost everywhere
2) class << self ; private ; def successfully makes the method d inaccessible from outside and from inside with self. but not without it -- this is weird
3) private ; self. and private ; class << self do not make methods private -- they are accessible both with and without self.

Answer 3

I think the best way (and mostly how existing libs are written) to do this is by creating a class within the module that deals with all the logic, and the module just provides a convenient method, e.g.

module GTranslate
  class Translator
    def perform( text ); translate( text ); end

    private

    def translate( text )
      # do some private stuff here
    end
  end

  def self.translate( text )
    t = Translator.new
    t.perform( text )
  end
end