From: hakunin <madfancier@...>
Date: 2008-06-17T23:58:56+09:00
Subject: Re: print(true and true) #=> the parenthesis issue

On Jun 17, 10:37 am, Robert Klemme <shortcut...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On 17 Jun., 16:07, Dave Bass <daveb...@musician.org> wrote:
>
> > I've always used "&&" rather than "and". I know the two operators have
> > different precedences. The "&&" version comes naturally to me, thanks to
> > a C background.
>
> I use "&&" in expressions (because of the precedence) and "and" when I
> want to combine some "statements".
>
> > Can someone give non-contrived examples where "and" works nicely but
> > "&&" doesn't? I.e. what is the reason for including "and" in the
> > language, as it seems redundant to me. (The Pickaxe says "just to make
> > life interesting".)
>
> 16:35:55 OPSC_Gold_bas_dev_R1.2.2_prj$ ruby -ce 'x = some_work() &&
> puts x'
> -e:1: syntax error, unexpected tIDENTIFIER, expecting kDO or '{' or
> '('
> 16:36:09 OPSC_Gold_bas_dev_R1.2.2_prj$ ruby -ce 'x = some_work() and
> puts x'
> Syntax OK
>
> Does that give a clue?
>
> Kind regards
>
> robert

The way 'and' differs from &&, and || differs from 'or' is pretty
clear.  Question is - what to do about this special case? It's
completely logical when you follow interpreter logic, as it adheres to
KISS (from interpreter perspective) however, it does not adhere to
POLS from language user's view angle. One would say "you have to learn
your interpreter", but I would argue that language is what we learn
and interpreter is just a tool used by the language. Interpreter is
there to interpret language, language is not there to adhere to the
interpreter. Am I making sense?