From: "scooterm@..." <scooterm@...>
Date: 2008-01-17T04:44:57+09:00
Subject: ruby annoyances ... mine is line continuation, what's yours?

Just thinking how really smart Ruby is in most areas makes it all the
more surprising when some of its "warts" start showing. Admittedly,
the ones that appear are pretty minor, but still a tad irritating
nonetheless.

Line continuation is probably the biggest annoyance for me so far.

Consider:

puts 'cat :: dog :: elephant :: mouse :: gorilla'.
    split('::').
    map{|str| str.strip() }.
    select{|str| str['o']}.
    join("\n")

If you ask "why is this an annoyance" ... it's because you have
to put the period at the *end* of each item, even though some
prefer to put it at the beginning. Why? Because it makes it easier
to remember to put in the code, you dont have to scan a bunch
of varying-length lines to see if you remembered to put the
dot at the end, ... and don't even think about adding "line
continuation escapes" like a backslash ... they're ugly and
they suck.

Anyone else have an annoyance they want to share? ... or better
yet, a fix for this one? Speak up, get it off your chest.

--salutations