From: Brett Williams <brett_williams@...>
Date: 2004-08-19T22:35:55+09:00
Subject: splat behavior with different versions of ruby

This is probably common knowledge, but the references I could find where 
annotated only in Japanese so I'm just not sure what is happening here:

#########################################################
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
puts "VERSION: #{RUBY_VERSION}"
puts "PLATFORM: #{RUBY_PLATFORM}"
h = { 'foo'=>3, 'bar'=>56 }
h.each do |*items|
   puts "items is of type #{items.class}"
   puts "1 = #{items[0]}, 2 = #{items[1]}"
end
#########################################################

vor-lord:/tmp> ruby r.rb
VERSION: 1.7.2
PLATFORM: i386-linux
items is of type Array
1 = bar, 2 = 56
items is of type Array
1 = foo, 2 = 3

vor-lord:/tmp> /usr/bin/ruby r.rb
VERSION: 1.8.0
PLATFORM: i386-linux-gnu
items is of type Array
1 = foo, 2 = 3
items is of type Array
1 = bar, 2 = 56

linux4:vor-lord/tmp> /opt/ictools/64bit/bin/ruby r.rb
VERSION: 1.8.1
PLATFORM: x86_64-linux-gnu
items is of type Array
1 = foo3, 2 =
items is of type Array
1 = bar56, 2 =

linux4:vor-lord/tmp> /usr/bin/ruby r.rb
VERSION: 1.6.8
PLATFORM: x86_64-linux-gnu
items is of type Array
1 = bar, 2 = 56
items is of type Array
1 = foo, 2 = 3

So out of 1.6.8, 1.7.2, 1.8.0, and 1.8.1, only 1.8.1 exhibits the 
behavior that I find counterintuitive.  Is this the way it is supposed 
to work?  If so, what is the rationale?