From: Dan Zwell <dzwell@...>
Date: 2007-08-18T15:19:01+09:00
Subject: Re: Problem with Array#delete

Matthew B Gardner wrote:
> Hello, I'm baffled by the following problem:
> 
> I have an Account class and an external array that keeps them in a list. I'm 
> trying to delete the account objects one at a time as needed, by:
> 
> class Account
> 	def quit
> 		array_name.delete self
> 	end
> end
> 
> However, this is deleting every account in the list (array_name == []). I've 
> verified that the account objects are unique. Just for an example, this is 
> the equivalent of what's happening:
> 
> class Account
> 	def quit arr
> 		arr.delete self
> 	end
> end
> 
> a1 = Account.new
> a2 = Account.new
> arr = []
> arr << a1
> arr << a2
> a1.quit arr
> arr #=> []
> 
> 
> Has anyone else experienced this problem, or know what the likely cause is? I 
> have other arrays that work in the exact same fashion and work as expected.
> 
> Thank you for any help,
> Matt
> 
> 

Wow, that was a well-asked question. This seems like a Ruby bug, though 
I can't reproduce it. When I run the code you posted, arr[] still 
contains a2 (as it should). I am using Ruby 1.8.6 (on Linux). What are 
you using?

Dan