From: Jason Roelofs <jameskilton@...>
Date: 2007-09-27T22:53:14+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby's a = b vs PHP5's $obj1 =& $obj2

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On 9/27/07, SpringFlowers AutumnMoon <summercoolness@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Just want to confirm Ruby's
>
>   a = b
>
> is the same as PHP5's
>
>   $obj1 = $obj2
>
> in other words, the reference is copied.
>
> While
>
>   $obj1 =& $obj2
>
> or
>
>   $obj1 = &$obj2
>
> in both PHP4 and PHP5 isn't the same as Ruby's   a = b
>
> $obj1 and $obj2 just become synonyms...
>
> and after
>
> $obj1 = new Foo("foo1");
> $obj2 =& $obj1
> $obj2 = new Foo("bar1");
>
> $obj1 and $obj2 have the same content, as they are just synonyms. (not a
> clone, not same reference, but just synonyms).  The "foo1" object is
> garbage-collected since no one is referencing it.
>
> this is giving me an initial headache... until maybe after i get used to
> it.
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
>
IMO it's giving you a headache because you're trying to compare a clean,
well thought out language like Ruby to a hacked-together-over-many-years
language like PHP.

Ruby acts exactly as you would expect it to.

a = Object.new # => a now points to this object
a = b               # => a and b now point to the same object
b = Object.new # => b now points to a new object, a still points to the
original object.

The faster you stop comparing to PHP and start thinking in terms of how
languages are supposed to work, the better.

Jason

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