From: Robert Dober <robert.dober@...>
Date: 2008-05-26T20:21:31+09:00
Subject: Re: Why "ABCDE"[0] returns an integer instead of 'A' ?

On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 12:27 PM, Iņaki Baz Castillo <ibc@aliax.net> wrote:
> Hi, I cannot understand how a high level language as Ruby doesn't
> handle a simple thing as C does with strings:
>
> in C:
>  string = "ABCDE"
>  string[0]
>  => 'A'
>
> in Ruby:
>  string = "ABCDE"
>  string[0]
>  => 65
Maybe because
a) in C 'A' == 65
b) Ruby has different ways to get substrings, x[0,1] or x[0..0]
c) Matz thought it was a good idea ;)
d) it makes lots of sense, unknown paradigms are not necessarily worse
than know ones.

However, IIRC Ruby1.9 will as you have said below tell the contrary :(
>
> Why 65? it's the Ascii value of A:
>  puts "\x65"
>  => "e"
because of
   "e"[0] == ?e  &&  ?e == 0x65,
what did you want to do with \x?
>
> PD: I've realized when writting this mail that Ruby 1.9 already
> implement this "feature".
Yup, obviously too many people were puzzled by this.
>
> --
> Iņaki Baz Castillo
> <ibc@aliax.net>
>

HTH
Robert

-- 
http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/

---
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
Ludwig Wittgenstein