From: Tim Hunter <cyclists@...>
Date: 2006-03-05T05:03:39+09:00
Subject: Re: Symbols similiar to defined in c++ ?????

Tim Hunter wrote:
> Not really. In C++ you're assigning a symbolic name to a number. You 
> pick the name and you pick the number. In Ruby, all you do is pick the 
> name. Ruby picks a number to assign to it. You don't get to choose, and 
> you don't even get to find out what the number is (at least, without a 
> lot of poking around in Ruby internals). Ruby guarantees you that no 
> matter where and when you use the symbol in your program, the symbol 
> will refer to the identical number. That's all there is to symbols.

Oops. Forgot. Also, Ruby guarantees that no two different symbols will 
ever be assigned the same number.