From: Jano Svitok <jan.svitok@...>
Date: 2008-05-31T05:46:36+09:00
Subject: Re: PHP to Ruby (associative array to Hash)

On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 6:50 PM, S.D <s.d@comcast.net> wrote:
> Great example! I don't quite understand the pointer(*) notation you are
> using in ruby. How would "Hash[*TYPES.select" differ from
> "Hash[TYPES.select"?
> Is one a pointer to the Hash and the other the Hash itself? I thought Ruby
> did not have pointers.

* is not a pointer, it is so-called splat operator (google: ruby
splat). It "expands" arrays.
When you call f(*array) and array is [1,2,3] it has the same effect as
calling f(1,2,3).
Another useful pattern is:

COLORS = ['red', 'green', 'blue']
DAYS = ['monday', sunday']

case word
when *COLORS
  puts "#{word} is a Color!"
when *DAYS
  puts "#{word} is a Day!"
end

For better explanation see google.