From: dblack@...
Date: 2006-09-29T19:55:19+09:00
Subject: Re: New magical version of Symbol.to_proc

Hi --

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Dr Nic wrote:

> Trans wrote:
>> But as I suggest,
>> if we see it for what it really is --an adapter, then it makes perfect
>> sense, and doesn;t seem so magical after all (except that it still
>> offers some nicely terse syntax).
>
> I agree - it is very nice syntax.

The ship has clearly sailed on the magic dot, but for the record let
me explain what I don't like about it.

My problem with something like this:

   x.should.be.equal.to(y)

(and I don't mean to parody RSpec; that's a made-up example but I
think it's pretty close) is that it uses method calling *syntax* for
method and/or argument name *semantics*.  To my eye it's basically
just clustering a bunch of words together that pertain to what's going
on, and connecting them with dots in a kind of imitation of spaces or
underscores.

It's very hard to know what "x.should.be" returns.  I can figure it
out, of course.  But it has a tone of "don't worry about what's
actually happening; just read the dot-connected words like a string",
which makes me uncomfortable.

(Actually I think RSpec itself now allows underscores to formulate
method names.)

I do understand how the "magic dot" works.  It works just like every
other dot :-)  I just think there are better-fitted ways to do most of
these things.

array.lengths, for example :-)

Anyway, just to save some bandwidth:

   * I really do understand how it works :-)
   * I do know that all method chaining has a bit of this quality.
   * I'm not trying or expecting to stop anyone from doing it; I'm
       just discussing the possible drawbacks.


David

-- 
                   David A. Black | dblack@wobblini.net
Author of "Ruby for Rails"   [1] | Ruby/Rails training & consultancy [3]
DABlog (DAB's Weblog)        [2] | Co-director, Ruby Central, Inc.   [4]
[1] http://www.manning.com/black | [3] http://www.rubypowerandlight.com
[2] http://dablog.rubypal.com    | [4] http://www.rubycentral.org