From: dblack@...
Date: 2002-12-09T12:29:50+09:00
Subject: Re: [YANQ] -yet another (ruby) newbie question -string#concat

Hi --

On Mon, 9 Dec 2002, Mike Campbell wrote:

>
> > String#concat is a synonym for String#<<, and since it modifies the
> > object, a concat! version wouldn't make sense.  You can indeed use
> > String#+ if you want to create a new string instead of modifying the
> > old one.
>
> To be fair here, it might be argued that the String#concat alias is
> misnamed and *IT* doesn't make sense, given what it does.  Seems to
> me (and I'm guessing Botp) that the alias SHOULD be String#concat!.

Not every method that modifies the receiver has a ! -- for example,
String#replace.  (If there were a replace!, then the original replace
would just be dup :-)  I guess to me 'concat' has the same inherently
change-rendering implication that 'replace' does; it sounds like an
order is being issued that something be done to the object.

By way of (merely illustrative) contrast: if there were a method
String#concatted_with(other_string) I would expect that to generate a
new object.


David

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