From: MikkelFJ Date: 2001-08-01T17:37:00+09:00 Subject: [ruby-talk:18947] Re: Digits in method names "Aleksei Guzev" wrote in message news:AGI97.8181$9i1.708193@e420r-atl1.usenetserver.com... > Have anyone seen a working program which does contain such lines: > Catch(:WM_QUIT){while msg.code!=PAUSE > msg=get_mesage;msg.translate!;msg.dispatch!;p 13end} ??? I do not think there is any technical problem with identifiers starting with numbers in Ruby. I just illustrated what could be a problem in a language in general. > Second, let in theory "3e14" be a method returning corresponding number. > Yes, "3e14" is a method. It adds an unnecessary layer of confusion to both the user and the implementor of the language. You might as well say that 0 is also a method (function would be more precise in this case). Effectively you can override all constants (or what used to be) in your local scope: 1 = 2 2 = 3 And then to make it really intesting we continue with 5 = 5.0 5 / 1 -> 2.5 But of course, you could just consider value served keywords, just like 'if' 'then' 'else' which is probably what you meant. One other place you might get into trouble is the text substition syntax - but I haven't looked at it. In my opinion it is mostly a matter of taste. I'm used to identifiers with much weirder names and optional escapes: AName [10cm] [Everyone in this room or a least 2 persons] Mikkel