From: Brian Candler <B.Candler@...>
Date: 2007-03-01T18:41:47+09:00
Subject: Re: Why does String have to_str and Integer have to_int?

On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 05:38:50PM +0900, Nanostuff wrote:
> That's pretty much my question :) Thanks.

So you can write
  a += b.to_i
or
  puts c   # which calls an implied #to_s

without getting an error if the argument already *is* an integer or a
string.

Now, as to why there are both #to_i and #to_int, and #to_s and #to_str, I
have no idea :-)