They aren't. But solid Ruby programmers use them this way and audit third-party code before using it and avoid it if it contains such code smell. One of the f

They aren't. But solid Ruby programmers use them this way and audit third-party code before using it and avoid it if it contains such code smell. One of the fun things about Ruby is that you can open up, override and chain just about anything. Apart from allowing for some interesting experiments, it also allows you to do things like monkey-patch faulty methods in libraries (including the std libs) at run-time while you wait for a sanctioned update to come out. This may or may not be a Good Thing, depending on who you are and what you're doing.