From: Eric Hodel <drbrain@...7.net>
Date: 2005-10-29T08:26:07+09:00
Subject: Re: Argument Passing Syntax

On Oct 28, 2005, at 3:25 PM, gwtmp01@mac.com wrote:

> On Oct 28, 2005, at 2:27 PM, Eric Hodel wrote:
>
>> Hash::[] is the only reason [1 => 2] is allowed, see: ruby-talk: 
>> 163033
>
> I've looked through the parse.y file, so I understand the mechanical
> reason why it doesn't work (it doesn't match the grammer) but I'm
> not sure I've heard a design or philosophical reason why the grammar
> is restrictive in this case.  I haven't looked at it enough to
> decide if extending the 'aref_args' construct would introduce
> some ambiguity.  It may be that it conflicts with the parsing of
> literal arrays.

IIRC, #[] and #call doing the same thing is a (relatively) recent  
addition to the language.  Hash::[] has been in Ruby since the first  
rev of Hash.

So it is possible it is simply an oversight.

-- 
Eric Hodel - drbrain@segment7.net - http://segment7.net
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