From: Paul Battley <pbattley@...>
Date: 2006-10-06T07:48:41+09:00
Subject: Re: Why can't Ruby automatically cast variables?

On 30/09/06, Joe Ruby MUDCRAP-CE <joeat303@yahoo.com> wrote:
> One thing that annoys me about Ruby is that casting variables is
> required:
>
> i = 5
> a = 'logan'
>
> puts a + i.to_s
>
> Or
>
> a='2'
> b=3
>
> puts a.to_i + b
>
> Why can't (or can?) Ruby just handle 'puts a + i' or 'puts a+b'?

I don't suggest you actually use this, but:

  class String
    def coerce(lhs)
      [lhs, self.to_i]
    end

    alias_method :old_plus, :+
    def +(rhs)
      if rhs.is_a?(Numeric)
        return rhs + self
      else
        return old_plus(rhs)
      end
    end
  end

  1 + '1' #=> 2

  '2' + 2 #=> 4

  'foo' + 'bar' #=> "foobar"

Paul.