What's up with symbols?

Hans-Eric_GrSSSSnlu · April 3, 2006, 3:05pm

Hello fellows!

I’m trying to understand symbols. Not what they are, but rather why Ruby
has them. They are neat and I use them, but effectively you end up with
the same thing using plain strings, right? So why extend the language? I
get the feeling I’m missing a big point so please help me out by
pointing it out to me.

Best regards

Hans-Eric GrÃ¶nlund

Hans-Eric_GrSSSSnlu · April 3, 2006, 4:20pm

On Apr 3, 2006, at 3:06 PM, Hans-Eric Grönlund wrote:

I’m trying to understand symbols. Not what they are, but rather why
Ruby
has them. They are neat and I use them, but effectively you end up
with
the same thing using plain strings, right? So why extend the
language? I
get the feeling I’m missing a big point so please help me out by
pointing it out to me.

Hi,

See:

Symbols Are Not Immutable Strings
[Many previous discussions on the list][2]

SymbolsAreNotImmutableStrings.red
[2]: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/search?
group=comp.lang.ruby&q=symbols&qt_g=1&searchnow=Search+this+group

– Daniel

Hans-Eric_GrSSSSnlu · April 3, 2006, 4:23pm

Hans-Eric Grönlund wrote:

Hello fellows!

I’m trying to understand symbols. Not what they are, but rather why Ruby
has them. They are neat and I use them, but effectively you end up with
the same thing using plain strings, right?

No. There was a lengthy thread about Symbols here on ruby-talk not too
long ago, so perhaps you’ll want to search the archives.

So why extend the language? I
get the feeling I’m missing a big point so please help me out by
pointing it out to me.