----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dave Thomas <Dave / PragmaticProgrammer.com>
To: ruby-talk ML <ruby-talk / ruby-lang.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2001 3:13 PM
Subject: [ruby-talk:15439] Re: A proto-RCR: making def and class rvalues


[snip]

> Next will be a call to rename 'def' to that it's consistent:
> 
>    module  X   <<
>    class   Y   << these two are declarative
> 
>    def m       << while this is imperative
> 
>    method  m   << this seems more consistent
> 
> 
> Then you could write
> 
>    private method fred
>      # ...
>    end
> 
> Of course there's a name clash there (With Object#method), but it's
> nice to dream :)

Dave, 

I like this.

We could keep "def" for back-compatibility and add "method"...
as for Object#method, I haven't thought this through... but there
might not be a name clash at all. Ruby is sometimes weirdly
intelligent about what it allows, though not necessarily consistent.
(E.g., though "in" is a reserved word, I can use it as a method name,
but not as  a local variable.)

At any rate, it would be OK IMO to rename #method as  a step toward
greater orthogonality.

Hal