From: Todd Benson <caduceass@...>
Date: 2009-03-07T01:05:57+09:00
Subject: Re: Any solutions to Ruby's inconsistencies?

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 5:10 AM, Michal Suchanek <hramrach@centrum.cz> wrote:
> You are iterating the array visiting the elements one by one,
> transforming each by the block, and stuffing the results into another
> array. If that is not collecting the results of the transformation I
> don't know what would be collecting things then.

I knew that someone would pipe in that we are collecting objects and
not transforming them, but you still have a left-hand assignment
dependency unless you use "!"; either way, you are collecting _all_ of
them (well, that is if you don't do some block-internal trickery).  To
me, "collect", "grab", "gather", "prune", are all lexically equivalent
to "select".  In the current case, it's like saying I want to collect
a flock of sheep, when that action -- though makes sense when
physically grabbing them -- has nothing to do with the use in the
programming language.

Anyways, like Eleanor mentioned, Ruby gives you the power to say, for
example... flock_1.sheer... if you are going to sheer flock_1, and
renders the actual map vs. collect argument a little bit moot.  I
suppose it really depends on your use of the language and what team
language standards you have set down.

I like #map because I see in my mind a->b, even though the a into b
doesn't have to be one to one.  Like I said earlier; I think this is
an artifact of CS thinking.  #map is easier to type too.

To each his or her own :-)

Todd