Attributes are specific properties of an object. Methods are capabilities of an object. In Ruby all instance variables (attributes) are private by default. It means you don’t have access to them outside the scope of the instance itself. The only way to access the attribute is using an accessor method

What is an attribute of a class Ruby?

By “attribute” the Ruby community means an instance variable, so an attribute reader is a method that reads an instance variable. An attribute reader returns the value of an instance variable. … I.e. it allows you to ask for the value of an instance variable with the same name, and does nothing but return its value.

What is a variable in Ruby?

A variable is a name that Ruby associates with a particular object. For example: city = “Toronto” Here Ruby associates the string “Toronto” with the name (variable) city. Think of it as Ruby making two tables. One with objects and another with names for them.