From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2002-12-06T10:36:16+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby Book for People Who Aren't (Yet) Programmers

From: "Chris Pine" <nemo@hellotree.com>


> ----- Original Message -----
> Why not use loop do ... end?  I find it more natural than while(true) ...
> ----------------------------
>
> Yeah, I thought about that.  I decided against it because I wanted to put
> off 'do' for as long as possible.  I remember getting confused when code
> like this didn't work:
>
>   if (foo < 5) do
>     puts 'foo is relatively small.'
>   end
>
> I understand now why it doesn't work, but until I really explain blocks, I
> want to avoid using them.
>
> Chris


That reasoning seems a bit far-fetched to me (even though it's based on your
experience :).

  while true
    ...
  end

is a progamming idiom.

  loop do
    ...
  end

is quite a natural expression.  The student needn't be told it's a block.  As
you do with objects, methods, etc., they can be introduced to blocks without
knowing it.

Gavin