From: Brian Candler <B.Candler@...>
Date: 2008-09-09T21:51:36+09:00
Subject: Re: "Pointer" to an object? (i.e. reflect changes to origina

> Both lambda and proc work 
> as well, incidentally.  Actually, from what I've read they're identical 
> in 1.8 (which is what I'm using), but not in 1.9,

Not exactly.

* lambda and Proc are different to each other in both ruby1.8 and ruby1.9.
  Also, they are different in the same way :-)

* in ruby1.8, proc {} is a synonym for lambda {}

* in ruby1.9, proc {} is a synonym for Proc.new {}

So to play it safe, never use proc {} - always use lambda {} or Proc.new {}

For a detailled discussion of the differences, see
http://innig.net/software/ruby/closures-in-ruby.rb

(although I disagree with his rant: these inconsistencies are carefully
considered to make Ruby "do the right thing" in various scenarios)

If you are using closures in the way discussed in this thread, then I think
lambda {} is probably the best choice as you get a true closure which is
fully independent of the thread of execution where it was defined.

Regards,

Brian.