From: James Edward Gray II <james@...>
Date: 2007-07-13T23:03:27+09:00
Subject: Re: Proposal: runtime-modifying Kernel methods should be keywords

On Jul 13, 2007, at 2:09 AM, Nobuyoshi Nakada wrote:

> Hi,
>
> At Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:55:40 +0900,
> Charles Oliver Nutter wrote in [ruby-core:11647]:
>>> |- the feature can't be wrapped in another method and maintain  
>>> the same
>>> |behavior as if it were called in the original context
>>> |
>>> |All those listed so far fit these criteria.
>>>
>>> String#gsub ?
>>
>> gsub needs access to internal structures (namely, the in-memory
>> representation of a String) but it can successfully be wrapped with
>> another method. I think both criteria must be met, since being  
>> able to
>> wrap a method means it's not doing anything weird with the caller's
>> logical binding/frame/scope.
>
> gsub sets $_ in the caller's scope.

Which is probably another feature of questionable value.  I know it's  
handy in one-liners, but outside of that code using $_ has been out  
of fashion for some time now.

James Edward Gray II