From: "David A. Black" Date: 2007-11-11T00:55:48+09:00 Subject: method names in 1.9 Hi -- I know that a 1.9 feature-freeze is coming soon, but I just wanted to put in a last-minute plea for some method name changes or removals. "invoke_method" is one. I always take the trouble to explain to people learning Ruby that sending a message and executing a method are not same thing (even though they often happen together). "send" makes sense: we're sending the object a message, explicitly. "invoke_method" does not make sense. We're not invoking a method; we're sending a message. The object then does something with the method. "call_method" would be slightly better, though send/send! is still, I think, the best mapping to the exclusion/inclusion of private methods. It requires that people know about !-methods, and about private methods, but they're supposed to anyway. The other method name I strongly dislike is "to_splat". Aside from "splat" being a kind of goofy, silly word, without any kind of technical connotations, the whole "to_x" family always results in an object of class X. "to_splat" represents a completely new semantics for "to_x". I know these (at least "to_splat") have been discussed here before, and I really don't want to trigger a re-hash of those discussions (which are findable in the archives). Like I said, it's just a last-minute plea. In particular, if I could be spared the thing about how unimaginative I am because I don't want Ruby peppered with quirky, whimsical, meaningless names, I'd count it a great kindness :-) Thanks -- David -- Upcoming training by David A. Black/Ruby Power and Light, LLC: * Advancing With Rails, Berlin, Germany, November 19-22 * Intro to Rails, London, UK, December 3-6 (by Skills Matter) See http://www.rubypal.com for details!