[ruby] Ruby class instance variable vs. class variable

I read "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/826734/when-do-ruby-instance-variables-get-set" but I'm of two minds when to use class instance variables.

Class variables are shared by all objects of a class, Instance variables belong to one object. There's not much room left to use class instance variables if we have class variables.

Could someone explain the difference between these two and when to use them?

Here's a code example:

class S
  @@k = 23
  @s = 15
  def self.s
    @s
  end
  def self.k
     @@k
  end

end
p S.s #15
p S.k #23

Update: I understand now! Class Instance Variables are not passed along the inheritance chain.

Official Ruby FAQ: What is the difference between class variables and class instance variables?

The main difference is the behavior concerning inheritance: class variables are shared between a class and all its subclasses, while class instance variables only belong to one specific class.

Class variables in some way can be seen as global variables within the context of an inheritance hierarchy, with all the problems that come with global variables. For instance, a class variable might (accidentally) be reassigned by any of its subclasses, affecting all other classes:

class Woof

  @@sound = "woof"

  def self.sound
    @@sound
  end
end

Woof.sound  # => "woof"

class LoudWoof < Woof
  @@sound = "WOOF"
end

LoudWoof.sound  # => "WOOF"
Woof.sound      # => "WOOF" (!)

Or, an ancestor class might later be reopened and changed, with possibly surprising effects:

class Foo

  @@var = "foo"

  def self.var
    @@var
  end
end

Foo.var  # => "foo" (as expected)

class Object
  @@var = "object"
end

Foo.var  # => "object" (!)

So, unless you exactly know what you are doing and explicitly need this kind of behavior, you better should use class instance variables.

Source

Availability to instance methods

• Class instance variables are available only to class methods and not to instance methods.
• Class variables are available to both instance methods and class methods.

Inheritability

• Class instance variables are lost in the inheritance chain.
• Class variables are not.

class Vars

  @class_ins_var = "class instance variable value"  #class instance variable
  @@class_var = "class variable value" #class  variable

  def self.class_method
    puts @class_ins_var
    puts @@class_var
  end

  def instance_method
    puts @class_ins_var
    puts @@class_var
  end
end

Vars.class_method

puts "see the difference"

obj = Vars.new

obj.instance_method

class VarsChild < Vars


end

VarsChild.class_method

I believe the main (only?) different is inheritance:

class T < S
end

p T.k
=> 23

S.k = 24
p T.k
=> 24

p T.s
=> nil

Class variables are shared by all "class instances" (i.e. subclasses), whereas class instance variables are specific to only that class. But if you never intend to extend your class, the difference is purely academic.

For those with a C++ background, you may be interested in a comparison with the C++ equivalent:

class S
{
private: // this is not quite true, in Ruby you can still access these
  static int    k = 23;
  int           s = 15;

public:
  int get_s() { return s; }
  static int get_k() { return k; }

};

std::cerr << S::k() << "\n";

S instance;
std::cerr << instance.s() << "\n";
std::cerr << instance.k() << "\n";

As we can see, k is a static like variable. This is 100% like a global variable, except that it's owned by the class (scoped to be correct). This makes it easier to avoid clashes between similarly named variables. Like any global variable, there is just one instance of that variable and modifying it is always visible by all.

On the other hand, s is an object specific value. Each object has its own instance of the value. In C++, you must create an instance to have access to that variable. In Ruby, the class definition is itself an instance of the class (in JavaScript, this is called a prototype), therefore you can access s from the class without additional instantiation. The class instance can be modified, but modification of s is going to be specific to each instance (each object of type S). So modifying one will not change the value in another.

While it may immediately seem useful to utilize class instance variables, since class instance variable are shared among subclasses and they can be referred to within both singleton and instance methods, there is a singificant drawback. They are shared and so subclasses can change the value of the class instance variable, and the base class will also be affected by the change, which is usually undesirable behavior:

class C
  @@c = 'c'
  def self.c_val
    @@c
  end
end

C.c_val
 => "c" 

class D < C
end

D.instance_eval do 
  def change_c_val
    @@c = 'd'
  end
end
 => :change_c_val 

D.change_c_val
(irb):12: warning: class variable access from toplevel
 => "d" 

C.c_val
 => "d" 

Rails introduces a handy method called class_attribute. As the name implies, it declares a class-level attribute whose value is inheritable by subclasses. The class_attribute value can be accessed in both singleton and instance methods, as is the case with the class instance variable. However, the huge benefit with class_attribute in Rails is subclasses can change their own value and it will not impact parent class.

class C
  class_attribute :c
  self.c = 'c'
end

 C.c
 => "c" 

class D < C
end

D.c = 'd'
 => "d" 

 C.c
 => "c" 

As others said, class variables are shared between a given class and its subclasses. Class instance variables belong to exactly one class; its subclasses are separate.

Why does this behavior exist? Well, everything in Ruby is an object—even classes. That means that each class has an object of the class Class (or rather, a subclass of Class) corresponding to it. (When you say class Foo, you're really declaring a constant Foo and assigning a class object to it.) And every Ruby object can have instance variables, so class objects can have instance variables, too.

The trouble is, instance variables on class objects don't really behave the way you usually want class variables to behave. You usually want a class variable defined in a superclass to be shared with its subclasses, but that's not how instance variables work—the subclass has its own class object, and that class object has its own instance variables. So they introduced separate class variables with the behavior you're more likely to want.

In other words, class instance variables are sort of an accident of Ruby's design. You probably shouldn't use them unless you specifically know they're what you're looking for.