def() and a module idea

Since I don't use Ruby for my job, this blog is in danger of dying a horrible but quick death.

I like def

...however, there is one thing I'd like to put on the record about Ruby. I like "def" to define methods, functions, subroutines, whatever you want to call them. Def has more currency than Perl's "sub". If Perl6 allowed "def" as a synonym for "sub" I'd be pleased.

Sound like a meaningless detail? The devil, I say, is in the details.

Something I don't think I like, on the other hand, is using "end" to close definitions (class...end. def...end.). True, it's obvious, and it's only one more keystroke than [shift+close bracket]. But, I seem to prefer keywords having more utility than as a block delimiter.

But that IS a reasonably trivial detail, one I can overlook.


A module idea

There's a science-fiction game called Traveller that's been in print for thirty years, and one of the key elements in the game is a world abstract, called the Universal World Profile, or UWP for short. It is self-contained with a handful of data elements, some fully derived data, some externally imposed data, and some computations you can perform. In short, perfect for a module. I think a good learning exercise is to port my Perl UWP module into Ruby.