From: cypher.dp@...
Date: 2007-07-21T20:39:44+09:00
Subject: Re: Symbols

You're not the first one who's asking...
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_frm/thread/7e9a4d1cb55d1c1f/e495f6051aebe0ae?lnk=gst&q=symbols+strings&rnum=3#e495f6051aebe0ae

Hope it helps

Dominik



2007/7/19, Joel VanderWerf <vjoel@path.berkeley.edu>:
> Stephen Cox wrote:
> > yeah I figured out symbols were the actual value. But one question, if a
> > symbol is  no longer used what happens to it? Is it released when the
> > procedure it was create in completes?
>
> No. Symbols accumulate forever. They cannot be garbage collected in
> current ruby. A variable whose value is a symbol actually contains a
> number, which is an index into a table, rather than the characters of
> the symbol. Ruby has to ensure that, as long as the program runs, this
> table entry contains the same string:
>
> irb(main):003:0> :a.to_i
> => 14033
> irb(main):004:0> 14033.to_sym
> => :a
>
> This is another reason to use strings for most purposes. (Also, strings
> look better in YAML, especially as hash keys.)
>
> --
>        vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407
>
>