From: Jim Freeze <jim@...>
Date: 2005-07-21T10:37:07+09:00
Subject: Re: What does this construct mean?

* Casper <casper.tonka@gmail.com> [2005-07-21 09:20:55 +0900]:

> To be honest, that the following two lines
>     puts (3+4).abs
>     puts(3+4).abs
> are semantically different *feels* very broken to me. My gut says that
> this is a vector for confusion and the introduction of bugs.

I think it depends on what binding you prefer most.
Consider

  method_that_returns_some_string(arg).upcase!

I think this does what one would expect. It is going
to upcase the returned string.
But, if it is written with a space after the method name

  method_that_returns_some_string (arg).upcase!

you suggest that this should bind the same as if the space
were not present. That means that constructs like

  sqrt (-2).abs

could not be written without an extra set of ()'s. 
Doesn't this rule that ()'s after a method
are always bound to the method imply that ()'s
are essentially always needed, especially if
any argument uses parens?

  sqrt ( (-2).abs )
This clearly needs the outer parens.

  method_take_two_args arg1, (arg2+arg3)
While this may be valid.

  method_take_two_args (arg1+arg2), arg3
But, this would not work and would need to be written as:

  method_take_two_args ((arg1+arg2), arg3)
or
  method_take_two_args (arg1+arg2, arg3)

Ugh. The more I look into this, the more I like the elegance
of Ruby.
-- 
Jim Freeze