From: mark hahn <mchahn@...>
Date: 2001-11-22T08:23:35+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:26088] Re: string concat and .to_s

> I frankly haven't tried running Ruby extensively with autoconversion
turned on

Oh!  I didn't know there was such a feature.  Is this in the pickaxe book?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Thomas" <Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 8:34 PM
Subject: [ruby-talk:25978] Re: string concat and .to_s


> "Mark Hahn" <mchahn@facelink.com> writes:
>
> > I can give many concrete examples where I've used this feature of
> > Java over the years.  Can you give me a counter-example?
>
> Well, I guess I have three answers.
>
> One is that I frankly haven't tried running Ruby extensively with
> autoconversion turned on - it might well work out OK. However, I
> suspect it also might not. Matz has struck a delicate balance with
> Ruby, and I tend to trust his judgment on these things. When it comes
> down to it, that isn't really an answer, just an observation.
>
> The second is that Java does String concatenation as a special case.
>
>     "fred" + 1      works
>     1 + "fred"      doesn't
>     String a = 99;  doesn't
>
> In general, these kinds of things tend to complicate the language. You
> could argue that by eliminating them, Ruby has oversimplified, but to
> be honest I've never really felt the need for Java's behavior in Ruby.
>
> Third is a question of interpretation. You'd like "fred" + 1 to be
> "fred1". How about "2" + 1? "21", or 3? There's a boat load of Perl
> folks who'd argue for the latter. Which is right? Or should we have
> both, depending on whether the string is a number or not?
>
> Regards
>
>
> Dave
>
>