# Everything is an Object

> In Ruby even a plain number or nil is a real object you can call methods on.

**Everything is an object** in Ruby: every value you touch is a real object that carries its own methods, including plain numbers, `nil`, `true` and `false`, and even classes themselves. There are no second-class "primitives" sitting outside the object system the way there are in some other languages. That is why the number 5 can answer messages directly: you can write `5.times { puts "hi" }` to repeat something five times, ask `(-5).abs` to get `5` back, or call `nil.to_s` and get an empty string. It is a big part of what people mean when they say Ruby is built to ["Optimize for programmer happiness"](https://chunkybacon.dev/glossary/optimize-for-programmer-happiness.md): the rules stay the same everywhere, so there is less to memorize.

*Related:* ["Optimize for programmer happiness"](https://chunkybacon.dev/glossary/optimize-for-programmer-happiness.md) · [Monkey Patching](https://chunkybacon.dev/glossary/monkey-patching.md) · [Duck Typing](https://chunkybacon.dev/glossary/duck-typing.md)

## Sources
- About Ruby (ruby-lang.org), "In Ruby, everything is an object" and the `5.times` example: https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/about/

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Source: https://chunkybacon.dev/glossary/everything-is-an-object/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)