From: David Alan Black <dblack@...>
Date: 2002-08-05T04:26:28+09:00
Subject: Re: Range oddness ?

Hi --

On Mon, 5 Aug 2002, Wejn wrote:

> > The 'real' problem for me is that:
> [...]
> > raises exception for 'uid = 997'
>
> Well, my real problem is that I'm just heedless ... uid = "997", just
> because it comes from ARGV :(
>
> But the 'p (1..4).type # => (1..4)' remains mystery for me ...

What's happening is that it's being parsed as:

  (p (1..4)).type

So the 'p' part happens (you see (1..4)), and .type is evaluated
silently.

I have to say I haven't gotten the hang of exactly how/when/why Ruby
does one thing and not the other.  I do know that it changed between
1.6.7 and 1.7.x, so you get:

  candle:~$ ruby/ruby -v
  ruby 1.7.2 (2002-05-11) [i686-linux]
  candle:~$ ruby/ruby -e 'p (0..4).type'
  Range

You can always use parens to make sure:

  p ((0..4).type)


David

-- 
David Alan Black
home: dblack@candle.superlink.net
work: blackdav@shu.edu
Web:  http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav