How do I track changes of an instance variable outside of the class in Ruby? -

i new ruby , building program works interactive orchard, user input type of tree want grow , give commands water, prune, pick , harvest tree.

the problem having when try have program ask commands until tree dies occurs @ height. height defined in instance variable inside class, , can't seem figure out how have program track variable outside of class, keeps prompting command until value achieved.

the below code start , end of code, not middle parts seem working fine. each of commands @ bottom work once, program ends. appreciated.

class orangetree  def initialize name @name = name @height = 0 @branches = 0 @winter = false @orangesontree = 0 @orangesinbasket = 0 @timeofyear = 0 puts @name + 'just sprouted! him?' end  puts 'welcome orchard! grow today?' reply = gets.chomp while reply != 'oranges'  puts 'i sorry, not have kind of tree, try again' gets.chomp end oranges = orangetree.new 'woody ' while orangetree |@height| <= 61   command = gets.chomp   if command == 'water'    puts oranges.rain   end     if command == 'pick'   puts oranges.pick   end   if command == 'prune'    puts oranges.prune   end    if command == 'harvest'    puts oranges.harvest   end end   

you cannot access object's instance field outside of class directly. use getter method.

adding attr_writer :height class give you.

then can reference height outside class

while oranges.height <= 61