From: Charles Oliver Nutter <charles.nutter@...>
Date: 2008-12-20T00:33:00+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:20703] Re: [Feature #905] Add String.new(fixnum) to preallocate large buffer

Jim Weirich wrote:
> There is a slight difference.  Array.new(1000) creates an array with a 
> thousand elements. The proposed String.new(1000) would create a string 
> with zero characters, but the ability to grow to 1000 characters (umm, 
> bytes) without internal reallocation.
> 
> I think this difference is enough to warrant different names.

Yes, that's a good point; and the resulting array would << to the 1001st 
element.

I suppose then coming up with a common name that works for both would be 
a good idea. I'm back to liking "buffer" in both cases.

String.buffer(1000) produces an empty string that can grow to 1000 bytes 
without needing to resize/copy.

Array.buffer(1000) produces an empty array that can grow to 1000 
elements without needing to resize/copy.

Whatever is decided, I think it's going to be something people want 
(need) on 1.8, so I'll probably submit a backport request as well (and 
perhaps write up a simple extension people can use until then).