From: "Benjamin J. Tilly" <ben_tilly@...>
Date: 2001-05-29T10:12:52+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:15901] Re: is it possible to dynamically coerce objects  types in Ruby?

jonas <jonas.bulow@servicefactory.se> wrote:
>> 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!? :-)

You will not be far wrong if you think of "to_int" as being
to_i combined with the assertion that what you are dealing
with was supposed to be "integer-like".

That is, to_i will endeavour to give you an integer, no matter
how poorly the shoe fits, while to_int will give you an
integer, but not if it means lopping off a toe or three in
the process.  If you wish you can think of the missing "nt"
in to_i to represent the lopped off toes from trying to make
the shoe fit what it didn't... :-)

Cheers,
Ben