From: briand@aracnet.com

> Any particular reason for this ?
> 
> After all values are visible so why aren't methods simply treated as
> values which are functions and therefore visible also.
> 
> By visible, I mean that methods can nly be accessed using self#method_name

Methods are seen as similar to records fields, so you must be explicit
about the object when calling them.
Also, methods may have no arguments, while functions must have at
least one.
Last, this distinction lets you use the same name for a field and a
method. This is sometimes comfortable.

Jacques Garrigue