I use a factory for the same things you use them for: to build objects. For example, I use factories to create test objects that are complicated to set up (usi

I use a factory for the same things you use them for: to build objects. For example, I use factories to create test objects that are complicated to set up (using a gem named factory_girl, actually). Also, in Ruby, every class is a factory for its own instances. If I define a class called User, I can assign the class object User to a variable: factory = User Then I can call factory.new and receive a new User instance. As for DI, it's not wrong, nor is it unidiomatic. Plenty of folks in the community use it, and often. A commenter elsewhere in this thread says that DI is unnecessary in Ruby because you can just reopen or redefine a class whenever you want. That's technically true, but isn't a good practice, as it can lead to some rather rapid foot shootery. If you want to swap in different-behaving dependencies, DI is a straightforward choice. Reopening an existing class and mangling it can cause very confusing behavior, and is generally avoided by experienced Rubyists.