From: Mark Hubbart <discord@...>
Date: 2004-04-03T10:18:51+09:00
Subject: Re: deciding between ruby and python


On Apr 2, 2004, at 3:33 PM, Aredridel wrote:

>> Calling to_s() seems kinda brutal from the Python POV. Perhaps this is
>> one of the areas where Ruby chooses the follow the Perl school of
>> Convenience.
>
> And it certainly is convenient:
>
> the following is hypothetical, but useful:
<snip example>

Yes, this type of coding is very useful in Ruby... Like this example 
(simplified from something I wrote once...):

   class Markup
     initialize(style, text)
       @style, @text = style, text
     end
     def to_s
       "<#{@style}>#{@text}</#{@style}>"
     end
   end

Now put together an array of Markup instances, and join it to get a 
string. Nice, huh? This is especially useful if you want to dynamically 
determine what type of markup to generate:

   html = Markup.use_html{ elems.join "\n" }
   ansi = Markup.use_ansi{ elems.join "\n" }
   rtf  = Markup.use_rtf { elems.join "\n" }

> Useful?
>
> The tradition of duck-typing and various kinds of hammer to coerce
> objects into acting like the appropriate types is an appealing part of
> Ruby.

I agree heartily.

--Mark