From: itsme213 <itsme213@...>
Date: 2006-01-01T16:52:56+09:00
Subject: Re: Immediate Values


<gwtmp01@mac.com> wrote in message 
news:8C1EA245-472B-4C94-9750-064CB61494BA@mac.com...

> I know I'm being pedantic (again) but I'd rather think of assignment
> as *always* copying references.  It is simpler that way.  The
> fancy bit-twiddling/implementation issues really come into play
> when the variable is dereferenced not when assignment occurs.  At least
> that is the way I've come to think about it.  Does anyone else think 
> about
> it that way?
>
> Gary Wright

Some do (including me), but others don't find it useful. e.g. See

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/6371773a2dba0892/19eb6da6a6ae89fd?q=itsme213+encoding&rnum=2#19eb6da6a6ae89fd