From: Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale@...>
Date: 2008-03-30T21:16:32+09:00
Subject: Re: Boolean Operators

On 3/29/08, Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I use "and" and "or" rather seldom mostly when chaining commands
>  as in
>
>  foo = doit() and puts foo

Keeping in mind that using && instead of and here has quite a
different result, even after adjusting the syntax of the puts call:

irb(main):001:0> a = 1 and puts "foo"
foo
=> nil
irb(main):002:0> a
=> 1
irb(main):003:0> a = 1 && puts "foo"
SyntaxError: compile error
(irb):3: syntax error, unexpected tSTRING_BEG, expecting kDO or '{' or '('
a = 1 && puts "foo"
               ^
        from (irb):3
irb(main):004:0> a = 1 && puts("foo")
foo
=> nil
irb(main):005:0> a
=> nil

I don't know that I've ever used 'and' since being bitten by the
relative precedence of = and 'and' in a rails app I inherited and was
extending.

I also don't believe that I'd personally use
    a = 1 and puts "foo"

rather than splitting it into two lines, perhaps replacing the and
with a semi-colon or otherwise steppng back and micro-refactoring the
code to make it clearer.

But I could be wrong.
-- 
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/