what does @ stand for in a Ruby function name

Question

What does @ stand for in the following Ruby code:

module TestRocket
  extend Module.new { attr_accessor :out }

  def _test(a, b); send((call rescue()) ? a : b); end

  def +@; _show _test :_pass, :_fail end
  def -@; _show _test :_fail, :_pass end
  def ~@; _show _pend;               end
  def !@; _show _desc;               end

  def _show(r); (TestRocket.out || $>) << r; r end
  def _pass; "     OK\n"; end
  def _fail; "   FAIL @ #{source_location * ':'}\n"; end
  def _pend; "PENDING '#{call}' @ #{source_location * ':'}\n"; end
  def _desc; "   FIRE '#{call}'!\n"; end
end

Proc.send :include, TestRocket

Then this is used as:

+-> { Die.new(2) }
--> { raise }
+-> { 2 + 2 == 4 }

How does @ turn into '->' in the function name?

Answer 1

The method names for the four unary operators +, -, ~, and ! are +@, -@, ~@, and !@. So the funny looking method definitions:

def +@; _show _test :_pass, :_fail end
def -@; _show _test :_fail, :_pass end
def ~@; _show _pend;               end
def !@; _show _desc;               end

just define overloads for those four unary operators. Then TestRocket is patched into the Proc class using Proc.send :include, TestRocket.

This:

-> { Die.new(2) }

is simply a lambda definition and another way of writing lambda { Die.new(2) }. Then, with TestRocket patched into Proc we can say this:

+-> { Die.new(2) }
# + lambda { Die.new(2) }

and it will run this method:

def +@; _show _test :_pass, :_fail end

as an instance method on that lambda.

Looks like a bit of an abuse of the unary operator overloading to "invent" something that looks like new -->, ~->, ... operators.