From: Cezary <cezary.baginski@...>
Date: 2011-05-31T00:20:22+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:36590] Re: [Ruby 1.9 - Feature #4801][Open] Shorthand Hash Syntax for Strings

On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 11:24:29PM +0900, Michael Edgar wrote:
> On May 30, 2011, at 10:19 AM, Cezary wrote:
> 
> > Symbols are recommended in favor of Strings for hashes anyway.
> 
> Only for fixed key sets. Symbols aren't GCd, so if the set of keys for a Hash
> grows with respect to input, then forcing them all to symbols will grow your
> Ruby process's memory usage irreversibly.

Good point.

Because of this, I think it makes ever more sense to have a
specialized Hash for string-keying - the each Hash "type" would have
entirely different applications anyway.

Also, any documentation for conversion between such Hash "types" could
warn about costs and point to alternatives.

-- 
Cezary Baginski