From: Ned Konz <ned@...>
Date: 2002-07-21T01:12:35+09:00
Subject: Re: valid hash keys

On Saturday 20 July 2002 09:07 am, David Garamond wrote:
> unlike perl, ruby treats 1 and '1' differently in hash keys:

This is largely because:

* Perl will happily change numbers to strings (and back), sometimes 
when you're least expecting it.

* Perl only uses strings as hash keys.

> so what are the range the valid values for hash keys? can i, like
> in python, use "immutable lists"/tuples as hash keys?

You can use any object.

$ ri Object.hash
------------------------------------------------------------ 
Object#hash
     obj.hash -> aFixnum
------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Generates a Fixnum hash value for this object. This function must
     have the property that a.eql?(b) implies a.hash == b.hash. The 
hash
     value is used by class Hash. Any hash value that exceeds the
     capacity of a Fixnum will be truncated before being used.

-- 
Ned Konz
http://bike-nomad.com
GPG key ID: BEEA7EFE