From: Rob Rypka <rascal1182@...>
Date: 2005-11-23T11:37:05+09:00
Subject: Re: a == nil or a.nil?

On 11/22/05, ako... <akonsu@gmail.com> wrote:
> this is more of a philosophical question. my C experience makes me feel
> more comfortable with expressions such as 'a == nil' rather than
> a.nil?. i feel strange when i invoke a method on a nil value. i know,
> nil is also an object and not just a zero reference but still it feels
> strange...

If you're not feeling the nil methods, remember nil is the only
Boolean false (besides FalseClass).  So, unless you specifically need
to differentiate between false and nil, you can do this:

if !a
  #stuff
end

That's something I see a lot in C, as NULL == false.  You might feel
more at home, and save a method call.

--
Rob