InitCopy

Easily use the appropriate method in initialize_copy, either clone or dup.

On the one hand, there is Bob. He likes to define his initialize_copy using clone:

class Bob
  attr_reader :name

  def initialize
    super

    @name = 'Bob'
  end

  def initialize_copy(orig)
    super(orig)

    @name = @name.clone # Use clone.
  end
end

On the other hand, there is Fred. He likes to use dup:

class Fred
  attr_reader :name

  def initialize
    super

    @name = 'Fred'
  end

  def initialize_copy(orig)
    super(orig)

    @name = @name.dup # Use dup.
  end
end

Who is right? Who is wrong? Both lead to unexpected behavior.

clone and dup have several differences, but as an example, one difference is copying over extensions. If a Rubyist uses clone or dup expecting the standard documented behavior, they'll be surprised.

Here, Bob gets surprised:

module BobExt
  def bob_rules
    "#{self} rules!"
  end
end

bob  = Bob.new
fred = Fred.new

bob.name.extend(BobExt)
fred.name.extend(BobExt)

bob  = bob.clone
fred = fred.clone

puts bob.name.bob_rules  # OK!
puts fred.name.bob_rules # Error! Even though clone() should preserve BobExt!

And here, Fred gets surprised:

module FredExt
  def to_s
    "Fred's password is 1234!"
  end
end

bob  = Bob.new
fred = Fred.new

bob.name.extend(FredExt)
fred.name.extend(FredExt)

bob  = bob.dup
fred = fred.dup

puts bob.name.to_s  # What!? dup() should have removed FredExt!
puts fred.name.to_s # OK!

So there are several solutions. The obvious one is to define initialize_clone and initialize_dup and call the appropriate methods, but that means you have duplicate code doing basically the same thing! And leads to copy & pasting as well as forgetting about one of the methods.

def initialize_clone(orig)
  super(orig)

  @name = @name.clone
  # 100 more lines...
end

def initialize_dup(orig)
  super(orig)

  @name = @name.dup
  # 100 more lines...
end

Marshalling also won't solve this, as it will produce the same result for both clone and dup, when they should be different (according to the standard documentation) as illustrated earlier with BobExt and FredExt.

Well, then along comes George. He's a pretty nice guy. He likes to do it this way:

def initialize_copy(orig)
  super(orig)

  copy = caller[0].include?('clone') ? :clone : :dup

  @name = @name.__send__(copy)
  # More lines...
end

Admittedly, it's pretty hacky, but that's basically what this Gem does.

For speed, there is also a mixin (doesn't check the caller).

See the Using section for more info.

• Setup
• Using
• Hacking
• License

Pick your poison...

With the RubyGems CLI package manager:

$ gem install init_copy

In your Gemspec (<project>.gemspec):

# Pick one...
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'init_copy', '~> X.X'
spec.add_development_dependency 'init_copy', '~> X.X'

In your Gemfile:

# Pick one...
gem 'init_copy', '~> X.X'
gem 'init_copy', '~> X.X', group: :development
gem 'init_copy', git: 'https://github.com/esotericpig/init_copy.git', tag: 'vX.X.X'

From source:

$ git clone 'https://github.com/esotericpig/init_copy.git'
$ cd init_copy
$ bundle install
$ bundle exec rake install:local

require 'init_copy'

class George
  attr_reader :name
  attr_reader :cool

  def initialize
    super

    @name = 'George'.dup
    @cool = true
  end

  def initialize_copy(orig)
    super(orig)

    ic = InitCopy.new()

    @name = ic.copy(@name)
    @cool = ic.copy(@cool)
  end
end

og = George.new
ng = og.dup

ng.name << ' drools!'

puts og.name #=> "George"

In the constructor, you can set the default fallback to :clone instead (in case the caller cannot be determined):

ic = InitCopy.new(:clone) # Default (no args) is :dup

There is also a safe_copy in case the Object does not have a clone or dup method:

@name = ic.safe_copy(@name)
@cool = ic.safe_copy(@cool)

If you want to store the class in an instance variable for some reason (not recommended), you can call update_name:

class George
  attr_reader :name
  attr_reader :cool

  def initialize
    super

    @ic = InitCopy.new(:butterfly)

    @name = 'George'.dup
    @cool = true
  end

  def initialize_copy(orig)
    super(orig)

    puts "Copy method name: #{@ic.name}" # :butterfly
    @ic.update_name()
    puts "Copy method name: #{@ic.name}" # :clone or :dup

    @name = @ic.copy(@name)
    @cool = @ic.copy(@cool)
  end
end

Under the hood, this uses InitCopy::Copier, which also has an alias InitCopy::Copyer.

The mixin is faster than the above class way; because instead of relying on searching & parsing the caller, it sets @init_copy_method_name to either :clone or :dup appropriately in the following methods that it defines:

• initialize_clone
• initialize_dup
• clone
• dup

Then in your initialize_copy, use one of these private methods that it also defines:

• copy
• safe_copy

Note: If your class and/or its descendants redefine any of these methods, they must call super, else it will not work!

require 'init_copy'

class George
  include InitCopy::Copyable

  attr_reader :name
  attr_reader :cool

  def initialize
    super

    @name = 'George'.dup
    @cool = true
  end

  def initialize_copy(orig)
    super(orig)

    @name = copy(@name)
    @cool = safe_copy(@cool)
  end
end

og = George.new
ng = og.dup

ng.name << ' drools!'

puts og.name # "George"

You can set the default fallback in your constructor:

def initialize
  super

  @init_copy_method_name = :clone
end

Note: @init_copy_method_name could be nil in copy if super was not called in your initialize method, and this will cause an error. safe_copy checks for this scenario and will default to :dup if nil. In general, it should be safe to not define a default value, assuming correct coding practices.

InitCopy::Copiable is an alias to this class.

$ git clone 'https://github.com/esotericpig/init_copy.git'
$ cd init_copy
$ bundle install
$ bundle exec rake -T

$ bundle exec rake test

$ bundle exec rake doc

MIT

Copyright (c) 2020-2022 Jonathan Bradley Whited

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of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
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copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

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IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
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SOFTWARE.