From: Yukihiro Matsumoto <matz@...>
Date: 2005-02-20T23:24:55+09:00
Subject: Re: destructive! operations

Hi

In message "Re: destructive! operations"
    on Sun, 20 Feb 2005 17:22:34 +0900, Navindra Umanee <navindra@cs.mcgill.ca> writes:

|Is it more efficient to use the destructive versions of functions in
|Ruby?  I know that in Lisp/Scheme destructive counterparts are usually
|offered for efficiency reasons.
|
|Can I assume that string.gsub! is preferable to string.gsub when I
|know that the side-effect won't be affecting any other code?  

Although most (not all) of bang methods are more efficient than their
counterparts, I discourage the use of them unless the performance is
really problem.  "Premature optimization is the source of all evil".

							matz.