From: SpringFlowers AutumnMoon <summercoolness@...>
Date: 2007-09-30T15:39:35+09:00
Subject: Re: a = Dog.new # a is not a pointer and not a reference?

Morton Goldberg wrote:
> On Sep 29, 2007, at 10:17 PM, SpringFlowers AutumnMoon wrote:
> 
>>> with the semantics of C or C++. Trying to impose the semantics of
>>> other languages onto Ruby isn't going to work. It's best to drop such
>>> baggage and start fresh.
>>
>> hm,... but is there a problem to think of reference in Ruby as a
>> "pointer"?  will that cause any trouble?   I only see that   
>> a.value  is
>> not the same as C and C++ would use a->value, but in Ruby we use  
>> the "."
>> to replace the "->" and that's it.  Will there be further trouble or
>> discrepancy to think of Ruby reference as a pointer?
> 
> Well, your assertion that a.value is the equivalent of a->value is a
> good example of getting into trouble by equating a reference to a
> pointer. The expression a.value is a method call, not a value fetch.
> For a.value to work, the object referred by a has have a method
> called 'value', either an instance method or singleton method, in its
> extended object table. If it does, the method is executed and some
> object is returned. That's not at all what a->value does in C.

how about just a.set_value(3) vs a->set_value(3).  what i mean is just 
the "." and "->" difference.  using a "." in Ruby and "->" in C or C++. 
If I think of "a" as a pointer and "." as "->", will that get in trouble 
and have any discrepancy for other things.




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