From: Gennady <gfb@...>
Date: 2004-01-24T03:15:34+09:00
Subject: Re: Why is to_a going to be obsolete?

Joel VanderWerf wrote:
> Gennady wrote:
> 
>> I was also surprised to learn that Object#to_a is going to be 
>> obsolete. However, I immediately found a replacement for it that I 
>> like even more:
>>
>> instead of doing
>> o.to_a
>>
>> I do now
>> [ *o ]
>>
>> And this is not reported as obsolete in Ruby 1.8.1 yet ;-)
> 
> 
> Don't get too fond of it ;)
> 
> irb(main):016:0> [~] irb
> irb(main):001:0> h = {1=>2, :three=>"four"}
> => {1=>2, :three=>"four"}
> irb(main):002:0> [*h]
> => [[1, 2], [:three, "four"]]
> irb(main):003:0> class << h
> irb(main):004:1> undef :to_a
> irb(main):005:1> end
> => nil
> irb(main):006:0> h.to_a
> NoMethodError: undefined method `to_a' for {1=>2, :three=>"four"}:Hash
>         from (irb):6
> irb(main):007:0> [*h]
> NoMethodError: undefined method `to_a' for {1=>2, :three=>"four"}:Hash
>         from (irb):7
> 
> 

It shows only that currently '*' for hashes implemented via to_a, no more.

In any rate, I am with OP on this -- it would be nice to hear from Matz 
about Object#to_a becoming obsolete and relevance of "[ *o ]" for the 
future.

Gennady.