From: Harry Ohlsen <harryo@...>
Date: 2002-07-09T13:57:24+09:00
Subject: Re: is there a better string.each?

> Sorry, I guess I missed something. I didn't
> realize that performance was an issue in this
> discussion.

I don't think the main thrust was performance.  It's just that the split 
approach is potentially expensive memory-wise (for large strings).  
Obviously, it would be nice to have a mechanism that both worked and was as 
efficient as possible.

... Which I think is to have an each_char iterator, as Matz has said will be 
in 1.8, and which anyone who has written more than twenty lines of Ruby can 
whip up for themselves in the interim.

> On a side note: As a rule, I think it's better
> to write "interim" code in Ruby (and experiment
> with it) before changing the core. That's not
> to say that such a change is precluded forever.

Amen.  It would be sad to end up having to release a 1.8.1 five minutes later 
... but, of course, I'd never expect Matz to make that mistake !!

Harry O.