From: Regg <spam@...>
Date: 2006-05-16T03:14:36+09:00
Subject: Re: begining programmer questions

But when I hear statements about Ruby being a strong type language, I 
would expect that to be applied to variables.

Most assignments happen between variables.

But if what you are saying is that variables are "typeless", then I have 
to go with the belief that Ruby is a "weak" typed langauge and not a 
strong one.


In C++ (a strong typed language) you can't do this:

MyOtherClass *m_otherclass = new MyOtherClass();
MyClass *m_class = new MyClass();


 m_class = m_otherclass;   <--ERROR (Can't convert MyOtherClass to 
MyClass)


but this seems to be possible in Ruby.

Please correct me if I'm wrong (I want to be wrong here). :)




> This is the case. However, variables are only references and are
> themselves "typeless," in a sense. While you cannot change the object
> a variable points to from one type to another, you can have the
> variable point to a different object entirely which can be of a
> different type. Here is something that won't work:
> 
> "5" + 5
> 
> Since the two objects are different types, they cannot be added/
> appended. The two correct variations are below:
> 
> "5".to_i + 5 # => 10
> "5" + 5.to_s => "55"
> 
> Hope that clears things up.
> 
> - Jake McArthur


-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.