On Thu, 4 Jan 2007, Trans wrote:

>>>
>>> Do you understand that #send is tantamount to a keyword?
>>
>> yes.  but it's only keword-like without a receive and
>>
>>    send! 'private_method'
>>
>> is fine since
>>
>>    private_method
>>
>> is fine too.
>
> But it's the public use that actually causes the most trouble. It's
> keyword-like in that it a method that is too important to override. So
> we end up with __send__ or __send, which is ridiculous. Might as well
> drop #send altogether and just have the ugly shadow method. Please, ask
> yourselves, why do we have __send__?
>
> T.

hmmm.  there is no way around this kind of thing unless the operation of
sending a message to an object is removed from the object's interface.  so we
could have something like

   Pervasives.send obj, message, *args, &block

here Pervasives is an object that cannot be changed - even by changing
Object#send.

this also allows

   Pervasives.object_id obj

etc.

thoughts?

-a
-- 
if you find yourself slandering anybody, first imagine that your mouth is
filled with excrement.  it will break you of the habit quickly enough. - the
dalai lama