From: Roger Pack <rogerpack2005@...>
Date: 2008-05-09T00:43:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Comparing String with Symbol


> I'd rather use to_sym instead of to_s.
> 
>               matz.

I'd use either one except that [quoting Tim Harper]

once a symbol is allocated, it is never garbage collected.

This opens up a potential DOS attack: if you convert any user input to 
symbols (via #to_sym or #intern), they could easily fill your symbol 
space up and eat all of the available system memory.

We'd all be wiser than I was a few minutes ago to keep this present when 
deciding whether to use symbols or strings:

http://blog.hasmanythrough.com/2008/4/19/symbols-are-not-pretty-strings
--

or, in other words
loop { rand(10000000).to_sym }
 # uses up memory in a hurry :)

-R
-- 
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