On Feb 18, 2009, at 5:33 PM, Rick DeNatale wrote: > Actually, no. > > The value of any expression is an object. I thought you were pretty clear in <http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/articles/2006/09/13/on-variables-values-and-objects > that values in Ruby are references, not objects. That posting is one of the nicest expositions on Ruby's object model that I've seen. It took me quite a while to get a good mental picture of Ruby's object model. Part of the problem was that the community doesn't (or didn't) seem to have a consensus on terminology in this area. Discussions about values, references, expressions, objects, assignment semantics, immutable types, symbols, identity, and so on often resemble a druken sailor's random walk rather than an simple, easily followed narrative.