From: Doug Stone <dstone@...>
Date: 2010-12-03T02:07:11+09:00
Subject: newbie: variable names

hello,
i just started with ruby.  i've been off the front-lines of programming for about 15 years.  recently, our company was purchased by a died-in-the-wool java shop that is just starting to adopt ruby and rails.  i've always had at least a working knowledge of our programming environment, so i started investigating ruby.  truth be told, i've never before worked in an object oriented environment.  so, when i, just moments ago, executed a small program which demonstrates how easily even methods in an internal (ships-with-ruby) class can be redefined, i experienced a holy s#@! moment.  well, possibly unrelated to topics dealing with an amazing object model, i have my first (of what may be many) really dumb questions: why is it advantageous to be able to distinguish aVariableName from avariablename?  
thanks,
doug