From: Robert Klemme <bob.news@...>
Date: 2004-08-11T17:06:13+09:00
Subject: Re: string.each_char


"Martin DeMello" <martindemello@yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:pdjSc.72120$J06.71567@pd7tw2no...
> Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@soyabean.com.au> wrote:
> >
> > Presumably you use this "compact" structure because it's one object
> > rather than many?  But then, each time you iterate it, you're
> > generating #{string.length} temporary objects.  Perhaps it would be
> > more "compact" in the long run if you used an array of strings or
> > symbols?  Or a Set, depending on your access requirements.
>
> Hm - good point. We'd need to go down the C path and separate 'char'
> from 'string', so that the former could be Fixnum-type singletons. Yet
> another place where C thinking doesn't map to ruby best-practice :)

Well, char and string *are* in fact separate.  A char is simply a Fixnum.
Although I'd prefer a unique type for chars that can be better deal with
different encodings.  IMHO the encoding issue is not fully satisfactory
solved in Ruby yet.  To improve this is one of my major requirements for
Ruby 2.  My 0.02 EUR...

Kind regards

    robert