From: Phlip <phlip2005@...>
Date: 2008-08-25T05:55:58+09:00
Subject: Re: Why 'if 0' succeeds in Ruby

matu wrote:

>> False and nil are two quite different concepts and should not be
>> conflated.
> 
> I agree with you. I am also used to this. nil should never == true, and
> neither be == false. Every comparison with nil should just fail.

Code style should prefer the if condition to pass in positive and happy-path 
situations. Further, the condition should also be stated positively.

You are asking to write extra code - if nil != my_object - for all of your 
positive situations. Then, "nil not equal" is a double negative - nil and not.

However, Ruby is not stopping you from writing programmer-hostile code 
everywhere. Go ahead and write the extra 'nil !=' if you must!

> But I actually like rubys behaviour as well: I somehow think it's logically
> wrong, but practical.

Sorry! (-:

Always remember anyone can write code that a compiler can read. It's a much 
bigger challenge to write code a colleague can understand.

-- 
   Phlip