From: Nikodemus Siivola <tsiivola@...>
Date: 2002-06-24T21:12:00+09:00
Subject: Re: No exceptions from String#to_i


On Mon, 24 Jun 2002, ts wrote:

>  use #Integer if you want an error

More whys and wherefore's...

I find this mildly strange:

 Integer('')    #-> exception

 Integer(nil)   == 0
 Integer(false) #-> exception

 Integer(:foo)   == 14145
 Integer('foo') #-> exception

Is this 'jus the way it is', or is there a reason? I suppose symbols get
hashed, but then why not apply the same logic to strings as well?

Also, since nil and false are the only non-true values, I would expect
them to be treated the same in such a case.

Further strangeness:

Why ?

 Array(foo)   == foo.to_a
 String(foo)  == foo.to_s
 Integer(foo) != foo.to_i
 Float(foo)   != foo.to_f



 -- Nikodemus