[ruby-talk:04115] Re: Method signature - a question for the group

On Tue, 18 Jul 2000  14:24:05 -0500, Dave Thomas wrote:
> 
> However, String#index can return either a Fixnum or nil, depending on
> whether the substring was found, so in this particular case we
> document it as
> 
>       str.index( aString ) -> aFixnum or nil
> 
> We also describe in the text that follows the circumstances under
> which nil is returned.
> 
> The problem is that these "or nil"s appear all over the place (and
> we're discovered places where they're missing), and they mess up the
> layout of the method definitions somewhat. So, we were wondering: do
> people feel they're useful to include in the signature, or is noting
> them in the accompanying text good enough?

I think including this info in the signature is useful. Often when I'm
doing a quick vgrep for a method, I only read its signature.

Maybe
	str.index( aString ) -> aFixnum | nil
or
	str.index( aString ) -> aFixnum/nil

would be less cluttering. I'd personally prefer the first.

Michel