From: Morton Goldberg <m_goldberg@...>
Date: 2006-10-29T04:43:37+09:00
Subject: Re: nil.to_s != "nil"


On Oct 28, 2006, at 3:05 PM, Vidar Hokstad wrote:

>
> Eero Saynatkari wrote:
>> On 2006.10.28 00:20, Phrogz wrote:
>>> You are correct that "" != nil, but "nil" != nil also.
>>> What are you really trying to achieve? And, did you know that
>>> nil.inspect yields "nil"?
>>
>> Yes. I want consistency.
>
> It is consistent. "to_s" returns a string representation of the
> value(s) of the object you call it on.
>
> The value of the object nil is _nothing_ and the empty string is a
> sensible representation of that.

As well as sensible, it can be useful:

<code>
#! /usr/bin/env ruby -w

def bottles(n)
    "#{n} bottle#{'s' if n != 1} of beer on the wall"
end

bottles(99) # => "99 bottles of beer on the wall"
bottles(1) # => "1 bottle of beer on the wall"
</code>

Regards, Morton