From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2001-05-28T02:05:39+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:15811] Re: is it possible to dynamically coerce objects  types in Ruby?

jonas <jonas.bulow@servicefactory.se> writes:

> > Try 'to_int' which is for that particular purpose, not 'to_i' which is
> > for explicit conversion to integer.  And when you want something to be
> > string, try 'to_str'.
> 
> Why is there a difference between to_i and to_int? Is it the principle
> of biggest surprise!? :-)

The longer forms to to_xxx (to_int, to_str, and to_ary) are used when
the argument is _expected_ to be of a particular type. to_i, to_a, and
to_s and used to _convert_ something to that type. There's a big
difference: to can convert just about anything to a string, but it's
not always meaningful to use that value where a string is expected:

  f = File.new("/dev/null")
  f.to_s           #=>"#<File:0x4018da54>"
  f =~ /wombat/    #=> failed to convert File to String