From: Dave Howell <groups@...>
Date: 2006-01-05T07:18:22+09:00
Subject: Re: On Symbols


On Dec 30, 2005, at 8:52, Mark Somerville wrote:

>  I think the host/port example on the second
> half of this page seemed to make the most difference to me:
>
> http://microjet.ath.cx/WebWiki/ 
> 2005.12.27_UsingSymbolsForTheWrongReason.html

Ack. I'm glad that helped somebody, but it was meaningless for me. It  
still had nothing about what a symbol *is*. Until I find out what they  
actually are, I can use them only by parrotting. "When I type  
attr_reader, I have to do that colon-name thing, which then turns into  
an @name thing later for no visibly logical reason. But that's what you  
do, so I do it. La la la."

However, the link on that page seems to be much more useful to *me*.

http://onestepback.org/index.cgi/Tech/Ruby/ 
SymbolsAreNotImmutableStrings.red

[thinking]

Nope, still don't know what they are.

For pity's sake, though, do NOT respond to my message by trying to  
explain them. I haven't finished reading all the messages yet, but  
apparently there are a couple million, so no point in adding new ones  
just yet!