Stephen White <spwhite / chariot.net.au> writes:

>> Introducing a new class just because these objects are created different
>> would be gratuitous.  A creator method like Hash.make would be better.  My
>> personal preference would be to extend the functionality of Hash.new .

>Couldn't you do something like:

>  class Hash
>    def make (...)
>      ...
>    end
>  end

>and extend the Hash class instead?

Sure.  That is what I originally had.  See one of my  earlier postings:

http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/12123

In some instances using class methods as constructors is fine.  I felt for
this particular case I'd prefer Hash.new to do the work.

Raja