From: Eric Christopherson <echristopherson@...>
Date: 2013-02-24T06:12:33+09:00
Subject: Re: why "Range" not worked on "to_ary" ?

On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 2:35 PM, Xavier R. <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:
> yes,you are right. Now I have one thing to say that-
>
> Array#try_convert(obj) : If obj is not already an array, attempts to
> convert it to one by calling its 'to_ary' method.
>
> I have no handy example for that method here to paste,thus couldn't.
> Question is why then such implementation?

#to_ary is used to convert things that are fundamentally array-like,
i.e. they can be used in places (usually standard library methods)
where arrays can be used. A range is not fundamentally like an array,
because it doesn't consist of a finite number of elements (or really
any "elements" at all unless you want to count the endpoints). #to_a
is used to convert things in a way that's dictated by convention,
rather than a way that's inherent to the data themselves.