Feature #1125
closed
[*x] (array consisting only of a splat) does not necessarily return a new array
Description
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For [*x], these are basically the possible outcomes:
- if x is an Array, returns it unmodified.
- elsif x responds to to_ary (to_a on 1.9.1), invokes that method and returns its result unmodified.
- else, returns a new array with x as its only element.
Cases #1 and #2 IMO violate the POLS, as I expected that an array literal would always return a new array. The practical consequence here is that I expected I'd be free to modify it without side effects. (For comparison, "#{x}" always returns a new string)
Simple test case:
x = [1, 2, 3]
[*x] << 4
p x # => [1, 2, 3, 4]
Thus, I propose ensuring these two cases always return new arrays.
One possible solution would be dup'ing the resulting array (I guess that'd have a rather low cost; the third case would result in an unnecessary dup, but at least it's just a single-item array). Another one would be to dumb down the interpreter, making it create a zero-length array and then concat the result of the splat to it.
=end
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