From: Gavin Kistner <gavin@...>
Date: 2005-02-22T22:47:47+09:00
Subject: Re: Proposal for nil, 0, and "" in an if statement

On Feb 22, 2005, at 6:41 AM, Pit Capitain wrote:
> David Heinemeier Hansson schrieb:
>>> Here is a proposal for evaluating "", 0, and nil in an if statement:
>> I'd be pretty happy to see that happen. It would make especially Ruby 
>> in view logic a lot easier to deal with.
>
> Could anyone post examples of actual code that would be easier if 0 
> had a special property in common with nil and ""? I think I never 
> needed this in Ruby.

I don't have actual code, but imagine looping through records returned 
with financial data, and you want to print out a "-" if the field is 
missing -or- zero. The whole "this field doesn't have any meaningful 
information that contributes to the sum of the column" spreadsheet 
thing.

I would support an RCR with this proposal, under just about any method 
name :)
And I agree, boolean types need the same method as well.