From: Brian Candler <b.candler@...>
Date: 2009-08-24T22:17:24+09:00
Subject: Re: 1.8.7 String#lines keeps new-line chars (say it ain't so in 1.9)

Thomas Sawyer wrote:
> To me returning the newline code with #lines would be like returning
> the spaces for a method #words. Eg.
> 
>   "show it\nto me".words => ["show ", "it\n", "to ", "me "]

...except there is no built-in method 'words' so you can't accuse it of 
being inconsistent :-)

Some people would want lines with trailing whitespace stripped as well 
as terminators. Some people would want leading whitespace stripped too. 
I don't think you can please everyone, so IMO the most flexible and 
consistent approach is to give the line complete with its terminator, 
and let the user apply whatever post-processing they like.

> I think the broader issue here is the question of whether or not
> String is intended for use by code-point (ie. low-level character)
> manipulators, or for higher-level human-oriented textual manipulation.
> I always thought StringIO was for the former case. But now I am seeing
> Ruby's String is some sort of hodge-podge mixture of the two.

I think StringIO is for when you want to duck-type a File, but with 
in-RAM backing.

ruby is certainly lacking consistency in this area. In ruby 1.9, for 
example, IO still has #each (meaning #each_line), whereas String doesn't 
any more.
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