From: Hal Fulton <hal9000@...>
Date: 2004-09-20T13:35:07+09:00
Subject: Re: Nuby question about symbols

James Britt wrote:
> Hal Fulton wrote:
> ...
> 
>>
>> I'd only add that one common use for a Ruby Symbol is to stand for a 
>> method
>> name. (That's a slightly misleading statement perhaps -- attr_accessor 
>> takes
>> one symbol and creates two methods, but their names are both based on the
>> symbol.)
>>
>> For example, attr_accessor takes symbols, as does Object#send.
> 
> 
> Why?  Speed?  I imagine that, in both cases, a string could have been 
> used as well.  A string, though, would let you craft an invalid method 
> name.
> 
> Maybe that's the reason for using symbols.

Well, many times a string will work in place of a symbol. It depends on
the method being called.

Two other observations:
1. It's possible to call otherwise illegal method names via send
2. It's possible to include non-alphanumeric chars in a symbol


Hal