Hi --

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Robert Dober wrote:

> hi here I am again;)
>
> my original (simplified question was): Why Nil#to_i and not Nil#split.
> Generally why X#a and not X#b?

I don't think there's a general answer; each case is going to be
different.  In the case of Nil#to_i and Nil#split, I think the
difference is something like this:

#split suggests that nil has the property of "being composite" (i.e.,
it is something that can split).  #to_i, however, just means that nil
has been assigned an arbitrary integer representation.  It doesn't
mean that nil has any particular properties.


David

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