From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2000-07-10T17:31:25-05:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:03918] A question about variable names...


The rules for name construction seem to be that the first character
(which determines the name's usage) should be an upper or lowercase
letter, a dollar sign or an at sign. The remainder of the name is
drawn from [a-zA-Z0-9_].

So, this means that $3 and @27 and valid names for a global and
instance variable respectively.

   class Dave
     def initialize
     puts n
       @23 = "hello"
     end
     def get
       @23
     end
   end


However, I cannot create a symbol corresponding to the instance
variable "23" - :23 is invalid syntax.

Then... If I create an attribute for my instance variable using

    attr "23"

I can't use it:

   Dave.new.23

is parsed as passing the argument '0.23' to Dave.new.


So... I'm wondering if allowing a digit as the first character after
the @ in an instance variable name is a good idea?

What does the panel think?


Regards


Dave