From: David MacMahon <davidm@...>
Date: 2013-02-12T09:02:34+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:52135] Re: [ruby-trunk - Feature #7792] Make symbols and strings the same thing


On Feb 8, 2013, at 4:50 PM, Eric Hodel wrote:

> On Feb 7, 2013, at 17:37, David MacMahon <davidm@astro.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>> Just to play Devil's advocate, could that not be separated into two different hashes: one for config options and one for command default arguments?  You have given semantic meaning to (the class of) the key.  Isn't that akin to treating the primary key of a database record in a non-opaque manner?
> 
> Two hashes would not be backwards compatible with previous versions of RubyGems.  I'm hesitant to change the format of a configuration file and break downgrades between RubyGems versions.
> 
> It would be more confusing to new users.  Now we can tell users "paste '�' into ~/.gemrc to do �" and it will work.  They don't need to know anything about ruby or yaml to do this.
> 
> If matz decides that we should break backwards compatibility in this manner I will change my mind.

I was not trying to induce change.  I think my follow-on query would have been more appropriate for ruby-talk rather than ruby-core.  I will (try to) keep my ruby-core postings more on topic.

Thanks for the explanation,
Dave

P.S.  Sorry if this gets out more than once.  I'm in the midst of an involuntary email "transition".