There is a method in Ruby which is called 'eval'. It takes a string and
evaluates it as Ruby code.
IE#remote_eval is based on this, hence the name. Python and Perl and Lisp
all have eval methods that do the same thing, so the name is pretty well
established and understood by anyone who has used any of these languages.
Eval is short for evaluate, which is the name for what you do when you run
code in an interpreted language. The equivalent with a compiled language
would be "compile, link and execute."
This varient of eval does two things in addition:
1. It evaluates in a separate process spawned by a separate thread.
2. It evaluates in the context of an IE object that is the equivalent to
the one that invoked the method. It actually uses Ruby's instance_eval to
do this.
People who want to learn more about what this method does would do well to
learn more about eval and instance_eval, so it might be good to base the
name on these methods.
Here are some other possible names:
remote_instance_eval
sub_process_eval
process_eval
parallel_instance_eval
In a way, Watir shouldn't force users to even have to understand this
concept (and i have ideas for how to eventually get there), but since it
does now, i'm reluctant to sugar coat it too much.
At 06:32 PM 8/9/2005, Paul Rogers wrote:
Bret,
Im assuming you've named remote_eval that based on what it is doing. I
dont find it a very intuitive name. Maybe something like one of these:
ie.execute_command( )
ie.run_command()
I'm not sure what a 'command' is in Ruby. It's a not part of the Watir or
Ruby lexicon.
IE#remote_eval can actually take any ruby code as its argument (in string
form), including multiple method calls separated by semicolons or
conditional logic or what have you. (You can embed 'puts' statements in the
string to debug errors.)
ie.delayed_execution() # is it actually delayed??
No. Actually the argument code and the subsequent code are running in
parallel and either might actually be the next to be executed. Neither is
delayed.
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