From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2002-08-21T10:58:51+09:00
Subject: Re: What makes a 'good' Ruby extension?

>>
>> 	http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyStyleGuide
>>
>
> Maybe I'm old and set in my ways, but I just read that page and while
> good, I'm having a little trouble with some aspects of it.
>
> In the "use iterators" section, it says ...
>
> Even Better
>
> Use iterators and higher order functions. These were invented in
> LISP, which was around before Algol introduced while and for loops.
> Therefore these are very old ways, and have worked fine for the last 50
> years!
>
> PROMPTS = ["First Name", "Last Name", "Phone"]
> first_name,last_name,phone = PROMPTS.map { |prompt | prompt_and_read(
> prompt ) }
>
>
> I'm sorry, I'm perfectly capable of grokkin that, but there is no way
> (to me) that that example reads better than the initial:
>
> first_name = prompt_and_read "First name"
> last_name  = prompt_and_read "Last name"
> phone      = prompt_and_read "Phone"
>
>
>
> The iterator example reads like perl to me, which in and of itself isn't
> bad, but it just seems like using a ruby construct for the sake of using
> a ruby construct.
>
> Thoughts?
>


I quite agree.  The original expresses the intention much more clearly.  I
love parallel assignment and map, but this is not a good use of them.

Gavin