Noob ? - Diff Between "action => :index" and "action => 'index'"?

Rails
1

What is the difference between specifiying a link_to action with a “:”
vs. “’’” ?

Example:

<%= link_to “Continue your spree”, :action => :index %>

vs.

<%= link_to “Continue your spree”, :action => ‘index’ %>

Is there one?

2

Are there any benefits (from a programming perspective) of using one
convention over the other?

tnx

On Apr 25, 10:18 am, Frederick C. [email protected]

3

On 25 Apr 2008, at 17:48, RoRNoob wrote:

<%= link_to “Continue your spree”, :action => ‘index’ %>

Is there one?
In one case you’re passing the string ‘index’ and in the other case a
symbol. rails doesn’t care though.

Fred

4

Without getting into the details, symbols use less memory.

5

On 25 Apr 2008, at 21:03, AndyV wrote:

Without getting into the details, symbols use less memory.

On the other hand they can’t be garbage collected. In practical terms,
I don’t think it makes much difference either way.

Fred

6

But symbols never get GC’d. So use enough symbols, and you permanently
use more memory.

My rule of thumb for symbol use:

  • hash keys
  • config specifications (has_many :my_things)
  • State designators (:open, :closed)

If it’s a name of something , or something that gets displayed to the
user, in most cases I’ll use strings.

Jason

7

Jason R. wrote:

But symbols never get GC’d. So use enough symbols, and you permanently
use more memory.

My rule of thumb for symbol use:

  • hash keys
  • config specifications (has_many :my_things)
  • State designators (:open, :closed)

If it’s a name of something , or something that gets displayed to the
user, in most cases I’ll use strings.

Jason

The memory argument is moot in Rails as it uses both.

See HashWithIndifferentAccess:
http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/HashWithIndifferentAccess.html

Rails’ hashes use both.

8

On 26 Apr 2008, at 00:07, Daniel W. wrote:

Rails’ hashes use both.
Nearly nothing uses HashWithIndifferentAccess, (only the params hash I
think). Deep down on the inside, it’s a hash with string keys, but if
you give it a symbol key it will convert that to a string first (and
some other niceties related to that).

Fred