Erik Hollensbe wrote:
> 1++ would have to operate (essentially) like 1.succ!, which would modify 
> the object itself.

If we're considering this as an analogy to C, it doesn't work that way. 
In C, ++ doesn't operate on integers, it operates on "lvalues", which 
include integer-valued variables. To illustrate:

$ cat >inc.c
main(){1++;}
$ gcc inc.c
inc.c: In function ¡Æmain¡Ç:
inc.c:1: error: invalid lvalue in increment

It might be conceivable for ruby to have a ++ _syntax_ that "operates on 
variables" (to use the somewhat muddled phrase I used in an earlier 
post). But there are very few syntaxes in ruby that operate on variables 
(assignment is one, and defined?() might be considered another), so this 
would be a radical and IMO distasteful change.

-- 
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407