From: Tim Hunter <TimHunter@...>
Date: 2009-09-05T20:51:21+09:00
Subject: Re: something.new( :attribute => value) thing

Marc-antoine Kruzik wrote:
> Hello, I saw something very interesting in the code of FXRuby, and I
> would like to use this kind of code in my scripts :
> 
> My_Window.new(app, "Button Test", :opts => DECOR_ALL, :x => 100, :y =>
> 100)
> 
> 
> I'm only able to do "classic" initialisations, such as :
> My_Window.new(app, "Button Test", DECOR_ALL, 100, 100)
> 
> 
> 
> What is the easiest way to create class which use the ":opts => ... x =>
> ... y => " part ?
> I'm sorry, I don't know the name of this feature, so it's quite
> difficult to find informations about it.

When the trailing method arguments are key => value pairs, Ruby collects 
them into a hash and passes the hash as the last argument to the method. 
Frequently the keys are symbols such as :opts or :x. The keys don't have 
to be symbols, though.

See http://www.softiesonrails.com/2007/8/27/ruby-101-hashes-are-cool

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