Hello --

I'm probably just being inattentive, but until very recently I don't
remember ever seeing terms in comparisons put in a constant-first
order.

By which (in case my terminology is inexact) I mean things like:

   if [] == ary
   if "" == str

rather than

   if ary == []
   if str == ""


I don't actually remember *ever* seeing this until perhaps a 
few months ago.  And mainly in Ruby.  (Then again, I've been
scrutinizing mainly Ruby code for the last few months :-)

Can anyone give me a little history and/or theory on why this
style is in use?  Or is there a semantic implication I'm not
seeing?


David

-- 
David Alan Black
home: dblack / candle.superlink.net
work: blackdav / shu.edu
Web:  http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav