Re: [PATCH] object.c ruby.h (fwd)

Michal Rokos <[e-mail]> writes:

> 	To get the same level of real-word-perception as SmallTalk has,
> 	it is needed to:
> 	(1)	* raise error if argument to RTEST isn't kind of Boolean
> 	(2)	* remove all #to_* and boolean (#&, #|) methods for nil.

Although this is a pure approach, I think it would make programming in
Ruby harder. Being able to say things like

   while line = gets
     ...
   end

is just too useful for the small tasks folks often use Ruby
for. Wrapping that up in a more theoretically sound

  while !(line = gets).nil?

loses a lot.

Now I know that folks would then say: but you shouldn't do
this. ARGF.each or whatever is more expressive and avoids the
problem. And I agree. But the reality is that the user community
appreciates the variety of styles supported by Ruby, and one of the
reasons people take to Ruby in the first place is the ability to write
familiar looking code.


Cheers


Dave