From: Robert Klemme <bob.news@...>
Date: 2004-09-19T20:44:42+09:00
Subject: Re: Automatic class conversion / function overloading


"Brian Candler" <B.Candler@pobox.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
news:20040918162110.GA1146@uk.tiscali.com...
> On Sat, Sep 18, 2004 at 12:17:57AM +0900, Markus wrote:
>> > Btw: you know that there are classes Rational, Complex etc. already, do
>> > you?
>>
>>      Yes.  But it's a convenient context for discussing the real issues
>> (why overloading isn't as needed in ruby, how duck typing reduces the
>> need for class-tests, etc.) since it's reasonable to assume that
>> everyone knows what the semantics _should_be_ and thus we can focus on
>> how they are best implemented.

Ah, I see.

> If you want to see an example of Ruby idiom in practice, just see
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/rational.rb (or wherever it is on your system)
>
> The stuff with #coerce I never 100% understood, but then I've never had to
> use it for any of my own classes. I've only ever seen it used for the
> various different ways of representing numbers.

I saw a really nice explanation of all these Ruby protocols (#coerce, 
#to_str etc.) - I don't exactly remember where it was, could be in Pickaxe 
II.

Kind regards

    robert