On Jan 6, 2006, at 8:48, Ross Bamford wrote: > On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 14:40:36 -0000, Dave Howell > <groups / grandfenwick.net> wrote: > >> P. S. With duck-typing as a Virtue in Rubyville, when am I ever going >> to be presented with a method that won't accept a String as well as a >> Symbol? Would there ever be a reason besides "bad programming" to be >> that restrictive? >> > > Here's one: > > f = File.read(:"/etc/passwd") > > TypeError: can't convert Symbol into String Hmm. But that's the opposite of what I said. I'm not too dismayed if something says "no, no, I don't want a Symbol. I want an honest-to-gosh String." It's if it says "No, a String is unacceptable. I only take Symbols" that I'd be really perplexed.