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I'm testing this small Ruby program:

require 'net/http'
url = URI.parse('http://www.rubyinside.com/')
response = Net::HTTP.start(url.host, url.port) do |http|
   http.get(url.path)
end
content = response.body

And I don't understand why URI.parse doesn't have the prefix Net:: and Net::HTTP.start have it.

What does Net:: means?

VansFannel
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3 Answers3

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Net is a module (ie. a namespace) and HTTP is a class, so by Net::HTTP you are accessing the HTTP class that is namespaced under the Net module.

:: is the namespace resolution operator, For more info see What is Ruby's double-colon (::) all about?.

As others have pointed, Net::HTTP is designed to work closely with URI which is another module (you could use it alone without net/http by doing a require 'uri').

Thus when you require net/http it also requires uri, and that's the reason you can access it using URI in your code.

Community
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Agis
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why URI.parse doesn't have the prefix Net::

Simple Examples says that - when you would do require 'net/http', then This will also require ‘uri’ so you don’t need to require it separately. URI::parse is a method of the URI module. Remember URI and Net are two different module.

Net is a module. Under Net module HTTP class has been defined.

:: is the namespace/scope resolution operator. So to access the HTTP class inside the module Net,we need to use Net::HTTP.#start is a method of the class Net::HTTP, that's why the call like Net::HTTP.start.

Arup Rakshit
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1) Net:: means the code is found in a module Net(namespace of ruby). It can be found in a folder net.
2) URI.parse doesn't have the prefix Net because it does not belong to Net::

rejin
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