== Description

Creates aliases for class methods, instance methods and constants by specifying
them in a YAML config file. By storing your aliases, it becomes possible to easily
share and search them. Although the default aliases are created with the irb user in mind,
it's possible to create your own alias types. See 'Customize Alias' below.

== Setup

Install the gem with:

    sudo gem install cldwalker-alias -s http://gems.github.com

The easiest setup simply involves dropping two lines in your .irbrc:

    require 'alias' 
    Alias.init

This setup assumes you have an aliases.yml in the current directory or a config/aliases.yml.
If neither is the case, pass a :file option to init():

    Alias.init :file=>"/path/to/my/clandestine_aliases.yml"

If you'd like to define your aliases without a config file, pass Alias.init() a block and
call methods as if they were top level keys in the config:

    Alias.init do |a|
      a.verbose = true
      a.constant = {'Array' = 'A'}
      a.instance_method = {'String'=>{'downcase'=>'dc' }, 'Array'=>{'select'=>'s'}}
    end

== Configuration

For an example config file see aliases.yml.example.

Options are: 

* verbose : true or false
* constant: Alias constants no matter how many levels down. Takes a hash of constants as strings,
  mapping constants to their aliases.
    Example: {'Date'=>'D', 'ActiveRecord::Base'=>'AB'}
* instance_method : Alias methods for the instances of specified classes. Takes a nested hash with Ruby classes as string keys. Each class should point
  to a hash of methods, with the original methods mapping to the alias method.
    Example: {'String'=>{'downcase'=>'dc'}}
* class_method : Alias class methods. Takes the same format as instance_method.
    Example: {'Date'=>{'day_fraction_to_time'=>'dftt'}}
 
== Customize Alias

You can create your own alias type by creating an Alias::*Creator Class. The * is there for the alias type name.
Suppose you want to create a my_instance_method alias type. Simply pass a my_instance_method key
with its appropriate aliases hash in the config. Then create your my_instance_method_creator class:

    module Alias
      class MyInstanceMethodCreator < Creator
        def create_aliases(aliases_hash)
          # My way of aliasing
          # ...
        end
      end
    end

Notice that the class should be a camelized version of the alias type and inherit from Alias::Creator.
At a minimum, make a create_aliases() to make custom aliases from the config data.
See creator.rb for more methods you can hook into.

==  Todo

* Provide an auto_alias method for creators.
* List and search your aliases which can be easy to forget.
* Alias/forward methods from one object to another. This will be useful for creating
  'commands' in irb.
* Add more RDoc documentation.