From: Ike <rxv@...>
Date: 2006-07-29T10:15:09+09:00
Subject: Re: does ":" have an anolog in another language?


"Tim Hunter" <sastph@sas.com> wrote in message 
news:eado93$s4a$1@foggy.unx.sas.com...
> Ike wrote:
>> does the colon operator have an anolog in say, Java or C++ ? It seems to 
>> be a reference pointer. Am i mistaken in assuming this? Thanks, Ike
> Tokens that start with colon are called "symbols".
>
> Check out the Symbol class at ruby-doc: http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/

Ok....so why not just use a String then, and test for equality of the values 
of the String? I mean, if this is something which has no anolog, say, in 
Java, or c++ (although these do seem like refrence pointers to me, ie. 
pointers whose l-lvalue we cannot acces) then why use them? -Ike