From: Ross Bamford <rosco@...>
Date: 2005-12-02T00:27:31+09:00
Subject: Re: require!

On Thu, 01 Dec 2005 15:01:05 -0000, Brian Buckley  
<briankbuckley@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Actually * looks for a to_a.
>
> Does calling amethod(*x) have the same meaning as calling
> amethod(x.to_a)?  If is it what is the benefit of using the (less
> clear) first way?
>
> Brian Buckley
>
>

It 'unwraps' a supplied [anything] to multiple declared arguments. Imagine:

	def amethod(one,two,three)
	  puts one, two, three
	end

If you call that with:

	amethod((1..3).to_a)

you'll get an error, because you only supplied one argument - the array.  
If you specify the '*', however:

	amethod(*(1..3))

The range first gets converted to an array with to_a, and then that is  
expanded into the method's argument list.

You can double-check by specifying either 1..2 or 1..4, which gives an  
ArgumentError.

-- 
Ross Bamford - rosco@roscopeco.remove.co.uk
"\e[1;31mL"