Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trialarnaud
13,859 PointsWhy not put both classes in the same file?
Is it feasible/will it work with both "contact" and "phone number" classes in the same .rb file? Why separate them in the first place? Ultimately, can a ruby programme consist of just one large, well-organised file?
3 Answers
Andrew Stelmach
12,583 PointsThe answer to your question is 'yes, it can'. However, it's considered 'best practice' to separate the classes out into their own files. There are two main reasons for this: one is that classes often (but not always) become quite large, so it's for general readability and organisation of your code.
Secondly, and this is also related to the first reason: a lot of thought and design principles go into organisation of classes in any program - careful thought goes into what classes should be and what those classes should be responsible for. It then feels natural to have files in separate classes.
So, two main, but interrelated reasons for separating them out.
For further reading, google 'SRP' or 'Single Responsibility Principle'.
arnaud
13,859 PointsClear and precise answer, thanks very much Andrew.
Adiv Abramson
6,919 PointsBut if you have a number of related classes, why not place them in a single file (module)? Isn't that better than having to keep track of several .rb files, especially when you want to create an application and deploy it? Thanks
Rachelle Wood
15,362 PointsRachelle Wood
15,362 PointsThis is an important concept too if you ever want to go to another object-oriented language like Java that actually requires you to make a separate file for each class. Great explanation!