From: itsme213 <itsme213@...>
Date: 2004-12-07T23:52:36+09:00
Subject: Re: Freezing Variable Assignment


"Austin Ziegler" <halostatue@gmail.com> wrote in message

> In a Hash, foo['bar'] and foo['baz'] are not instance variables of
> the Hash. They are indexed items to the Hash, for certain, but they
> aren't instance variables in the least.

If there is a standard Ruby term to describe what it is? Is "indexed items
to the Hash" part of the Ruby model of what constitutes object state? And is
there is a standard Ruby term to describe the object state that includes
  (a) the object state described by "@"-style named instance variables,
  (b) the object state underlying arr[1], arr[2], arr[3]... ,
  (c) the object state underlying hash[:foo], hash[:bar]...
  (d) any other form of object state,
  ... I would like to learn about it.  I have used the term "instance
variable" for this, intending something more broad than "@"-prefixed char*s.
Otoh, if having a term to describe such broder object state is not necessary