From: Brian Candler <b.candler@...>
Date: 2010-06-21T21:39:41+09:00
Subject: Re: Simple way to switch between printing object key/reference and object  value?

Nicholas Orr wrote:
> when @debug is true I should get the key/reference that is being
> called, when it is false I should get the value, like this
> 
> ruby-1.8.7-p249 > @debug = false
>  => false
> ruby-1.8.7-p249 > puts "Name: #{@debug ? "person['name']" : 
> person["name"]}"
> Name: nick
>  => nil
> ruby-1.8.7-p249 > @debug = true
>  => true
> ruby-1.8.7-p249 > puts "Name: #{@debug ? "person['name']" : 
> person["name"]}"
> Name: person['name']
>  => nil

I think it would be too dangerous to override person.[]. What about when 
you need to access the real value? I suppose if you use person.name and 
keep person['name'] only for display purposes it might be OK.

If this is just for debugging, I'd be inclined to override 
Person#inspect

> DRY = ref_or_value("person['job']['position']") ??

You could do:

dry = person.ref_or_value('job','position')

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