ruby, method_missing, and <array>.send

[cybo]

i'm trying to learn ruby and ruby on rails from a book called 'Ruby for Rails' it is a good book (at least for me) but below is a piece of code i don't understand:



#!/usr/bin/ruby
class Recipe
attr_accessor :main_ingredient
end

class Cookbook
attr_accessor :title, :author

def initialize
@recipes = []
end

def method_missing(m, *args, &block)
@recipes.send(m, *args, &block)
end
end

recipe_for_stew = Recipe.new
recipe_for_stew.main_ingredient = 'beef'
recipe_for_cake = Recipe.new
cb = Cookbook.new
cb << recipe_for_stew
cb << recipe_for_cake
beef_dishes = cb.find_all {|recipe| recipe.main_ingredient == 'beef'}
puts beef_dishes


i understand that when i call '<<' and 'find_all' methods, method_missing is called from the cookbook. i just don't understand what happens after that.
1) what are m, *args, and &block are set to in each case and why
2) what does <array>.send do with those arguments.

help is greatly appreciated.

[dv3500ea]

1) m is set to the method you called (eg. '<<')
*args contains a list of the arguments passed to that method
&block is the block that was passed (if any) (eg. {|recipe| recipe.main_ingredient == 'beef'})

2) The send method of any object calls the method m with argument *args and a block &block on that method. Basically what is being done here is the method called on the Cookbook instance is being called on the @recipes array instead.

[dwhitney67]

Or to deduce what is actually being passed:


...

def method_missing(m, *args, &block)
puts "method: #{m}"
puts "args : #{args}"
puts "block : #{block}"

@recipes.send(m, *args, &block)
end

...