From: Joel VanderWerf <vjoel@...>
Date: 2007-01-05T15:04:24+09:00
Subject: Re: Little Things

Trans wrote:
...
> require 'facets'
> require 'kernel/as'
> 
>   "foo".as(Kernel).class #=> String

Nice!

> The thing is though, do you really way to put ".as(Kernel)." or
> whateverfor every pervasive call?
> 
> I know Ara says he doesn't want to get rid of the orginal methods. But
> then it marginizes the whole point of it. Either we are free to use
> methods such as #class and #send for our own purposes or we are not.
> Trying to have it both ways won't be nearly as effective. We will still
> be afraid to override those methods. I'm not saying we have to get rid
> of those methods neccessarily, but I am saying the pervasive methods
> would/should become the more common form. So the syntax should be
> something very concise.

My intuition is to make pervasive method calls a bit awkward and poorly 
syntactically supported, to discourage use outside of metaprogramming 
and hacking. You don't want ruby programmers to start using them by 
default instead of #class, #send, etc.

-- 
        vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407