From: Warren Brown <wkb@...>
Date: 2004-04-24T00:43:23+09:00
Subject: Re: Problem assigning an Array object to an Array-subclass object

Richard,

> myA1 = MyArrayType.new
> myA1 = %w[x1, y1]

    Your problem is that you assign myA1 the object (MyArrayType.new),
then you assign myA1 the object (%w[x1, y1]).  This is similar to
saying:

x = 2
x = 5

    Also note that (%w[x1, y1]) is equivalent to (["x1,", "y1"]), which
is why you thought you were getting a comma separator.

> 1. How can I set myA1 to an array value
>    and preserve it's type?

    You would need to either use one of the self-modifying functions of
array (e.g. Array#replace), or add similar functionality to your
MyArrayType class.

> 2. Isn't there a "Ruby way" to set the separator

    Well, Array#to_s simply calls Array#join, and Array#join accepts a
string separator that defaults to the variable $, (dollar comma).  So
you can either set $, to whatever you want, or you can simply call
Array#join yourself.

    I hope this helps.

    - Warren Brown