From: Iain Barnett <iainspeed@...>
Date: 2010-07-07T17:23:36+09:00
Subject: Hashes don't allow preceding commas by design?

This is the output from irb that shows ruby 1.9.1 doesn't like hash entries to be preceded by a comma, only ended by one:

myhash3 = {
 :first => "first",
 :second => "second"
}
{:first=>"first", :second=>"second"}

myhash3 = {
 :first => "first"
 , :second => "second"
}
SyntaxError: (irb):48: syntax error, unexpected ',', expecting '}'
 , :second => "second"
  ^
	from /Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Programs/irb:12:in `<main>'


I prefer to put my comma's at the front of a line as it makes a line easier and quicker to comment out (1 vs 2 lines and a lot less fiddly). Is this only-commas-at-the-end by design or did I miss something? I've tested this with a script and with irb.

Quick addendum, thought I'd test this for arrays too, and it's the same.

myarr = [ 1, 2, 3]
[1, 2, 3]

myarr2 = [
 1,
 2,
 3
]
[1, 2, 3]

myarr3 = [
 1
,2
,3
]
SyntaxError: (irb):58: syntax error, unexpected ',', expecting ']'
	from /Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Programs/irb:12:in `<main>'


Iain