Factory is used to integrate the creation of some related object into one responsory class:
class PondOrganismFactory
def new_animal(name)
Frog.new(name)
end
def new_plant(name)
Algae.new(name)
end
end
class JungleOrganismFactory
def new_animal(name)
Tiger.new(name)
end
def new_plant(name)
Tree.new(name)
end
end
In ruby the class is an object too, you can create factory by class name
class IOFactory
def initialize(format)
@reader_class = self.class.const_get("#{format}Reader")
@writer_class = self.class.const_get("#{format}Writer")
end
def new_reader
@reader_class.new
end
def new_writer
@writer_class.new
end
end
html_factory = IOFactory.new('HTML')
html_reader = html_factory.new_reader
pdf_factory = IOFactory.new('PDF')
pdf_writer = pdf_factory.new_writer