From: Tom Cloyd <tomcloyd@...>
Date: 2008-03-15T15:47:03+09:00
Subject: Re: how to abruptly end a program?

Joel VanderWerf wrote:
> Tom Cloyd wrote:
>> I read in <Programming Ruby 2nd ed.> (p. 303) - ""If Ruby comes 
>> across a line anywhere in the source containing just �_ _END_ _�, 
>> with no leading or trailing whitespace, it treats that line as the 
>> end of the program�any subsequent lines will not be treated as 
>> program code."
>>
>> That's not what's happening for me. The following -
>> _ _END_ _
>> __END__
>> _END_
>>
>> all produce the same result for me - "undefined local variable or 
>> method"
>> That DOES bring the program to an abrupt end, but its rather 
>> ungraceful. Is this the intended result - a crash due to an 
>> interpreter error?
>
> What the quote (a bit ambiguous perhaps) means is that the __END__ 
> line and following lines are not treated as part of the program text. 
> It has nothing to do with control flow. It's like comment block that 
> runs to the end of the file without any explicit termination. (It's 
> more than that because you can read it with DATA.)
>
OK, but couldn't ANY uninitialized variable achieve the same messy 
result? What's the point? This surely can't be the intended result. 
Makes no sense to me.

t.

-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< tc@tomcloyd.com >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website & psychotherapy weblog) 
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health issues weblog)
<< directpathdesign.com >> (web site design & consultation)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~