From: James Edward Gray II <james@...>
Date: 2005-07-27T00:26:10+09:00
Subject: Re: defining to_s works oddly?

On Jul 26, 2005, at 10:18 AM, Jacob Fugal wrote:

> On 7/26/05, James Edward Gray II <james@grayproductions.net> wrote:
>
>> For that, you need the duck typed version of the method, to_str()...
>>
>
> I'm curious about that... why the two methods, to_s/to_str? I know
> it's been discussed before, and I *think* I understood it then, but
> I've since forgotten and there are probably others who haven't heard
> the explanation before.

Why discusses that a little at:

http://whytheluckystiff.net/articles/rubyOneEightOh.html

Here's probably the most relevant quote:

"So why not use to_s? Because to_s coerces objects into strings. So,  
to_str is an implicit cast, whereas to_s is an explicit cast."

Hope that helps.

James Edward Gray II