Can you call a private method outside a Ruby class using its object?

[geekelo]

No, you cannot call a private method outside a Ruby class using its object directly. Private methods in Ruby can only be called within the same class where they are defined. They cannot be accessed or invoked using the object of the class from an external scope.

If you attempt to call a private method from outside the class using the object, you will encounter a NoMethodError. Private methods are meant to be used internally within the class to encapsulate functionality and are not exposed for external use.

Here's an example to illustrate:

class MyClass
  def public_method
    puts "This is a public method"
    private_method   # Call private method internally
  end

  private

  def private_method
    puts "This is a private method"
  end
end

obj = MyClass.new
obj.public_method   # This works

# Attempting to call the private method directly from outside the class will result in an error
# obj.private_method  # This would raise a NoMethodError

In the example above, calling private_method directly on the object obj outside the class would result in an error. The private method can only be called from within the class itself, typically from a public method.