4 files changed, 48 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/lib/arel.rb b/lib/arel.rb
index a805cf60fa..afab11cd91 100644
--- a/lib/arel.rb
+++ b/lib/arel.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 require 'arel/version'
 require 'arel/table'
+require 'arel/attributes'
+
+# below is deprecated
 require 'arel/sql/engine'
diff --git a/lib/arel/attributes.rb b/lib/arel/attributes.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a7fb00293b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/arel/attributes.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+require 'arel/attributes/attribute'
+
+module Arel
+  module Attributes
+    ###
+    # Factory method to wrap a raw database +column+ to an Arel Attribute.
+    def self.for column
+      case column.type
+      when :string, :text, :binary             then String
+      when :integer                            then Integer
+      when :float                              then Float
+      when :decimal                            then Decimal
+      when :date, :datetime, :timestamp, :time then Time
+      when :boolean                            then Boolean
+      else
+        raise NotImplementedError, "Column type `#{column.type}` is not currently handled"
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/arel/attributes/attribute.rb b/lib/arel/attributes/attribute.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b83a32bee7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/arel/attributes/attribute.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+module Arel
+  module Attributes
+    class Attribute < Struct.new :relation, :name, :column
+    end
+
+    class String < Attribute; end
+    class Time < Attribute; end
+    class Boolean < Attribute; end
+    class Decimal < Attribute; end
+    class Float < Attribute; end
+    class Integer < Attribute; end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/arel/table.rb b/lib/arel/table.rb
index a4ae9bd18d..78b3ea9933 100644
--- a/lib/arel/table.rb
+++ b/lib/arel/table.rb
@@ -3,13 +3,20 @@ module Arel
     @engine = nil
     class << self; attr_accessor :engine; end
 
-    def initialize table_name, engine = Table.engine
-      @table_name = table_name
-      @engine     = engine
+    def initialize name, engine = Table.engine
+      @name   = name
+      @engine = engine
     end
 
-    def [] attribute
-      raise attribute
+    def columns
+      @engine.connection.columns(@name, "#{@name} Columns").map do |column|
+        Attributes.for(column).new self, column.name, column
+      end
+    end
+
+    def [] name
+      name = name.to_s
+      columns.find { |column| column.name == name }
     end
   end
 end