Re: rb_io_puts is strange

[i've been trying not to respond, but, just for the record...]

> I don't care much about consistency with other languages, for example,
> C etc. as long as the basic behavior remains same.  At least "puts"
> prints the given string with a newline.  Ruby's version is little bit
> "smarter" though.  It wouldn't hurt much, once you've understood.

> This is useful when I output the string from the user.  I didn't need
> to check newlines at the end, nor to chomp the string.

I see. I knew there must be a reason why someone might want this behavior.
I'd also forgotten in the 10 years since I last wrote any C for a system
that had a stdio implementation about the likes of fgets. Speaking as
someone for whom Ruby's competition is Java, I find I never have any problem
with PrintWriter's print/println combined with LineNumberReader's readLine
(which throws away the line-termination characters).

The "smartness" in Ruby is more a case of moving the flaw somewhere else
(from gets to puts). Java -- in this instance -- removes the flaw
completely. *That's* smart.

Don't get me wrong: my Java library contains implementations of Ruby-like
process and file functionality, because I think the Ruby library in those
areas is often As Good As It Gets. Having close throw a checked exception is
a good example of stupidity in Java. (As if 'close' ever guarantees
anything, even if it does complete normally!)

> Are there any bad things remain after you take a few minutes to
> learn the Ruby behavior?

I think so, yes. It's not as strange as ! methods returning nil, but it's
another bit of random strangeness that isn't obviously useful. Except seen
in the light of other decisions.

But, if it's been done on purpose, I just have to shrug my shoulders and
remember to avoid puts and use print("blah\n") instead from now on.

 --elliott


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