From: Zach Dennis <zdennis@...>
Date: 2005-08-19T01:31:25+09:00
Subject: Re: unless statement... why oh why?

Patrick Fernie wrote:
> When you check thr directly, since thr is not nil (it is still a
> Thread object, just dead), those parts of the test evaluate "true".
> So, in:
> "HERE" if not thr or not thr.alive? 
> the "not thr" evaluate false (since thr is an object, and therefore
> not nil), but the "not thr.alive?" evaluates true (not false), so
> "HERE" is printed since one of the tests is true
> 
> in:
> "HERE" unless thr or the.alive?
> "thr" is not nil, so it's true, so we short circuit and don't print,
> since it's an unless.
> 
> in:
> "HERE" unless the and the.alive?
> "thr" is not nil, so it's true, but thr.alive? is false, so the "and"
> overall evaluates to false, so "HERE" is printed since it's an unless.
> 
> Hope that makes sense.

Yes this lets my brain see things in a very simplistic fashion. Thank 
you for taking the time to respond!

Zach