From: Florian Gilcher <flo@...>
Date: 2009-02-18T21:47:30+09:00
Subject: Re: What are your favorite Ruby features?


On Feb 18, 2009, at 1:04 PM, Robert Dober wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 9:48 AM, Florian Gilcher  
> <flo@andersground.net> wrote:
>>
>> On Feb 17, 2009, at 9:30 PM, James Britt wrote:
>>
>>> David Masover wrote:
>>> Same here.  I think of them as FGPs: Feel-good parentheses, used  
>>> because
>>> they make people accustomed to C or Java feel more comfortable,  
>>> though they
>>> do not contribute any real code value.
>>
>>
>> Thats a harsh statement for those that do actually like parantheses  
>> and not
>> because they are C//Java-Guys.
> I did not think so, unless you feel inferior because you are a C /
> Java guy, which IMHO you should not.

Nice bait. But I just had dinner.

>
>>
>> For example, i find the following irritating and bad style:
>>
>> ===
>> def initialize foo, bar, batz = {}, &block
>> #(vs.)
>> def initialize( foo, bar, batz = {}, &block )
>> ===
>
> I find the second irritating  because those parens are sooo  
> superfluous.
> Does that mean that the first idiom is bad style??? Certainly not, I
> can get used to it if I must.

I consider it bad style. It's a personal opinion. I can live with  
people using it, thats the freedom Ruby gives them.
If I hack other peoples code, I have no problem with using it to keep  
the code consistent.

As I said: I consider it a supreme feature of Ruby of making this  
optional depending on your viewpoint.

>
>>
>> I see the argument list as a tuple and I like it to resemble one.
> Very valid point of view, but my brain sees it as a declaration. My
> brain could be trained to see it as a tuple, but right now I do not
> want to do that.

Sure, it is a declaration, but for two seperate entities (the method  
and its arguments). We could go on like this for ages ;).

Actually, I think round braces are more an indicator of a secret lust  
for LISP.

Regards,
Florian