"Jason Merrill" <jason.merrill / yale.edu> wrote in message 
news:141745d50608281759k3d61288ex3b0f8b5768ff6840 / mail.gmail.com...
> It seems well known that the Array constructor form
>
> Array.new(n, obj)
>
> causes a common gotcha for programmers new to ruby (see * below for
> details).  My question: is there ever any reason to use this form in
> favor of
>
> Array.new(n) {block}

    From what I've been told, there are performance trade-offs.  The former 
is faster than the latter so there are times when it's it's preferable if 
it does the job. Otherwise, no, there's no other reason that I can tell...
    Does that mean we should deprecate it?  I think the pros out weigh the 
cons so I don't think so...