From: Jeremy Kemper <jeremy@...>
Date: 2009-11-08T04:57:03+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:26599] Re: HashWithIndifferentAccess to core

On Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 10:21 AM, Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale@gmail.com> wrote:
> So far the argument goes something like this.
> Since it seems to be a common use case, perhaps it should be in Ruby core.

This is a motivating factor. Generally (repeating myself from above)
it encapsulates a common pattern:
 * consume arbitrary key/value data from "outside world," where
strings are best choice
 * work with these data using meaningful keys, where symbols are best choice

Such cases are command-line options, database result sets, HTTP header
values, etc. Anywhere Ruby works with external data (strings) using
some known, consistent semantics (symbols).

This can be done in pure Ruby and as a separate gem, but living in
Ruby itself gives very high speed and unifies the various behaviors of
this data type. The particular choice of implementation and name are
less important.

jeremy