Dave Thomas wrote:
> 
> On Dec 11, 2007, at 11:16 PM, Gary Wright wrote:
> 
>>> So, the move to support ! as a method and not an operator means (I 
>>> believe) that the current symbol equality is wrong.
>>>
>>
>> This actually isn't a new situation.  Ruby 1.8 has
>> this behavior also:
> 
> OK, so the move to extend this behavior is wrong.. :)

I would go so far as to say the behavior in any form is wrong. I believe 
symbols should work like most here believe they work (as general-purpose 
atoms) and if necessary an alternative construct should be used for 
representing method/variable symbols. The details of whether one method 
is an alias for another in the core classes should not be exposed in 
user-level symbols, if those symbols are permitted for general-purpose use.

The other option would be eliminating the ability to use symbols as 
general purpose atoms throughout Ruby...but I don't think that's a good 
idea.

- Charlie