From: markus jais <info@...>
Date: 2001-07-27T01:12:33+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:18573] ruby versus Perl Magic

hi,

I have a small problem
the following Perl Script  called "my.pl" works
when called like this:
$ ./my.pl 4
--------------------
	#!/usr/bin/perl -w

	$i = 1;
	$ a = $ARGV[0] + $i;
	print "$a\n";
-------------------
the output is of course 5


but the following ruby script "my.rb"  does not work
when called:
$ ./my.rb 4

--------------------
	#!/usr/local/bin/ruby -w

	i = 1
	a = i + ARGV[0]
	print a, "\n"
------------------
the error I get:
./my.rb:4:in `+': String can't be coerced into Fixnum (TypeError)
        from ./my.rb:4

Obviously the Perl Magic does not work in Ruby.
I have to write  ARGV[0].to_i

Does Ruby also support "Magic" as some Perl folks call this
that is, to convert variables automatically when used in a mathematical
expression.
if yes, how can I tell Ruby to be magic

I think that this is not possible in Ruby, and Matz had good reasons for
 this. Because I am neither a Perl nor a Ruby guru (yet), I would like to
hear the reason for this.

regards
markus

--
Markus Jais
http://www.mjais.de
info@mjais.de
The road goes ever on and on - Bilbo Baggins

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Markus Jais
http://www.mjais.de
info@mjais.de
The road goes ever on and on - Bilbo Baggins