(Scoped) Implicits are awesome, it turns out that scope is exactly the solution to the problem with generalised monkey-patching :o<p>Also props to the author for not using the (horrible) term used in early Scala documentation/papers/books of "pimp-my-library"
Ruby is gradually adding the ability to monkey patch without polluting the global scope via Refinements:<p><a href="http://timelessrepo.com/refinements-in-ruby" rel="nofollow">http://timelessrepo.com/refinements-in-ruby</a>