From: Martin DeMello <martindemello@...>
Date: 2007-03-09T02:45:25+09:00
Subject: Re: Paul Graham explains Ruby symbols

On 3/8/07, David A. Black <dblack@wobblini.net> wrote:
>
> I'll add yet another way of thinking about symbols, namely that they
> are very integer-like. All of the immutable, unique, immediate-value
> stuff is not so much a modification of how strings behave as a rather
> exact replication of how integers behave.

I like to use this analogy too. An integer has a string
representation, which is what is embedded in the code as a literal.
This string representation is not actually the integer, but every
integer corresponds to a unique string of digits, and if you use the
same string twice in your code, you're referring to the same integer.

martin