From: Charles Steinman <acharlieblue@...>
Date: 2005-07-19T04:05:54+09:00
Subject: Re: What does this construct mean?


Ara.T.Howard wrote:
> the best reason is the example you posted - one can make methods which read
> like syntax additions/declarations.  the built-in
>
>    class C
>      attr_accessor 'a'
>    end
>
> which (just in case you didn't know) automatically generate accessor methods
> for C objects as in
>
>    obj = C::new
>    obj.a = 42
>    p obj.a      #=> 42
>
> and this reads really nicely.  another good reason to ignore parens is for
> boolean methods like
>
>    if array.emtpy?
>      array << 42
>    end
>
> i think most would agree that this looks better than
>
>    if array.emtpy?()

Or even worse if array is gotten through an accessor, in which case
you'd have "if array().empty?()", which is just rancid.