Variables in class methods - ruby

Question

could you please explain me why the class variable cannot be accessed by attribute_accessors?
As i am trying here to have the list of all methods of all subclasses in one array it works a little different. It created array #method_names in every subclass with specific methods for every class ... so i do need to do a loop through subclasses.
What kind of variable/attribute is #method_names?
Thanks!
module First
class First_class
class << self
def info
puts "First_class method info."
puts #subclasses
puts #method_names
end
def inherited(subclass)
puts "#{subclass} located ..."
subclasses << subclass
end
def subclasses
#subclasses ||= []
end
def method_added(method_name)
puts "Method located #{method_name} ..."
method_names << method_name
end
def method_names
#method_names ||= []
end
end
def initialize
puts "Instance of First_class is created."
end
def first_method
end
end
class Second_class < First_class
def self.info
puts "Second_class method info."
puts #subclasses
puts #method_names
end
def second_method
end
def initialize
puts "Instance of Second_class is created."
end
end
class Third_class < First_class
def third_method
end
def initialize
puts "Instance of Third_class is created."
end
end
end
First::First_class.subclasses.each {
|subclass| puts subclass
subclass.method_names.each {
|methodn| puts methodn
}
}
#################UPDATE#########
Ok, maybe I put the question incorrectly.
Basically what is the difference for ##method_names(class variable) and #method_names (instance variable) if i do not create the instance of object? After inserting more inputs into #method_names it still inserts into the same object_id. So what is benefit of ##method_names?

Answer 1

updated to answer updated question.
Classes in ruby can have class variables. However if you modify the class level variable, ALL instances will be modified. This is not recommended but will illustrate the point. But also see this answer
class Foo
##bar = 'bar'
attr_accessor :bar
def initialize
#bar = 'bar'
end
def class_bar
##bar
end
def change_class_bar string
raise ArgumentError unless string.is_a?(String)
##bar = string
end
end
a = Foo.new
b = Foo.new
# change the class variable ##bar
b.change_class_bar 'wtf?'
# see both instances are changed because objects are passed by referrence
print 'a.class_bar is: '
puts a.class_bar
print 'b.class_bar is: '
puts b.class_bar
# change one instance only
a.bar = 'only a has changed'
print 'a.bar is: '
puts a.bar
print 'b.bar is still: '
puts b.bar
run this and you should get output:
a.class_bar is: wtf?
b.class_bar is: wtf?
a.bar is: only a has changed
b.bar is still: bar
original answer left here
#method_names is an instance variable of an instance of the class from which it was instantiated. However it cannot be accessed for read/write unless those attributes are defined with getter or setter methods defined.
ff = First::First_class.new
Instance of First_class is created.
=> #<First::First_class:0x00007fde5a6867b8>
ff.method_names
NoMethodError: undefined method `method_names' for #<First::First_class:0x00007fde5a6867b8>
Did you mean? methods
Now if you call ff.methods you will see all methods defined through standard Ruby inheritance.
As a side note, class names in Ruby conventionally use PascalCase see PascalCase. Mixed_case is discouraged.