Gavin Kistner <gavin.kistner@[...].com>  wrote:

>  Tree structures are interesting. Often the root of the tree is used as a
>  handle for the tree itself. However, the tree often has additional
>  methods beyond that of the root node.
>  
>  I couldn't figure out how to do this simply via inheritance due to
>  chicken-and-egg problems with namespacing:
>  
>    class Tree < Tree::Node
>      class Node
>      end
>    end
>    #=> chicken-and-egg.rb:1: uninitialized constant Tree (NameError)

Why wouldn't you do this?

module TreeStuff
  class Node
  end
  class Tree < Node
  end
end

A tree does more than a node (you say), so a tree is a subclass of node
("a node and then some"). The pair are wrapped up in a module to isolate
their namespace.

Of course I could be missing some other desideratum. m.

-- 
matt neuburg, phd = matt@[...].com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
Tiger - http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/tiger-customizing.html
AppleScript - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596102119
Read TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com