From: Justin Johnson <justinj@...>
Date: 2002-07-09T18:06:06+09:00
Subject: Re: for ... else ... end


At first, I didn't think this kind of construct would be that useful, but
after some thought I can see that it might be a good addition.  I can see it
being used in 'for' loop searching situations where 'break' is used when
some search criteria is met, found a string in a list for example.  Normally
you'd achieve this with a boolean variable called something like 'found'.

How about 'default' ?

for i in (0..9)
  if (i == 5)
    break
    end
default
   p "finished"
end

while i < 10
  if ( i == 5 )
     break
  end
  i += 1
default
  p "finished"
end

It seems to make sense to use the same keyword that is used to provide
default behaviour for case constructs. However, Rubys equivilent of
'default' clause for the case construct is actually the 'else' keyword!  The
'when' statements in a case construct are automatically doing a 'break' if
the condition is true.  If none of the conditions are met ( a 'break' is not
done ), the 'else' clause executes.  Logically, this is the same behaviour
that were looking for to extend loops.

Using 'else' would at least be consistent.

--
Justin Johnson