From: Brian Candler <b.candler@...>
Date: 2010-04-05T23:58:44+09:00
Subject: Re: When {integer:0} <> 0 ???

Richard Fairbanks wrote:
> Thank you for the response, Brian!
> 
> (Y,z) is initially defined as 0:
>     module Y; def self.z; 0; end; end

That's Y.z, not (Y,z)

> and both:
>     osax.say(Y.z)    #=> "zero" and
>     p(Y.z)  #=> {integer:0}
> validates that Y.z) = 0

Yes. p(Y.z) shows you that Y.z is 0.

> What if statement do I have to write to get Ruby to recognize an 
> existing value?

Just the bare expression, Y.z

  if Y.z == 0
    do_something
  end

Or there's a one-liner form:

  do_something if Y.z == 0

You could also write

  if Y.z
    do_something
  end

and this would work, because any value which is not nil or false is 
treated as true (so zero is true).

The colon is not a comparison operator, it is a (rarely-used) statement 
separator. It's not what you want here.

e.g.

  if true: puts "hello"; end

is same as

  if true; puts "hello"; end

and

  if true
    puts "hello"
  end
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