From: furufuru@... (Ryo Furue)
Date: 2001-08-08T13:35:26+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:19341] Re: Help with ternary operator syntax and grammar

hipster <hipster@xs4all.nl> wrote in message news:<IiRb7.2487$C41.55717@e420r-atl3.usenetserver.com>...
> On Tue, 07 Aug 2001  21:25:06 +0900, Ryo Furue wrote:
[...]
> > I can't understand what's wrong with this:
> > 
> > 	cond = true
> > 	print (cond? ", " : "\n")
>                   ^^
> insert a space here. Otherwise Ruby will interpret it as a call to the
> function 'cond?'. Question marks are allowed at the end of function
> names to indicate predicates. Your other examples were variations on
> this theme with differing precedences.

Thank you all who responded!  Your explanations almost solved the
mystery :)  But, I think one question remains:

	cond = true
	print (cond) ? ", " : "\n"

Why does this print "true" on the screen?  It seems that the second
line is interpreted as

	(print cond) ? ", " : "\n"

But, don't you think this is a weired grammar?  In the following, the
second line prints ", ", but the third prints "true":

	cond = 1
	print  cond == 1  ? ", " : "\n"
	print (cond == 1) ? ", " : "\n"

I think this is very counter-intuitive.  What's the rationale for this
interpretation?

Thank you,
Ryo