From: transfire@...
Date: 2006-07-15T10:02:59+09:00
Subject: Hash.new(obj) of any signifficant value?

Is this form of Hash initialization really very useful?

     Hash.new(obj)                     => aHash

      If _obj_ is specified, this single object will be used for all
_default values_.

Since the object is the _same_ object every time, I have never found a
use for it. I would much rather:

     Hash.new( hash )                     => aHash

      If _hash_ is specified, the key-value pairs of this hash will
populate the new hash.

Besides, you can still get the former behavior like this:

     Hash.new { |h,k| h[k] = obj }

And if that's not enough then:

  Hash.new_with_default(obj)

T.