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Feature #8772

open

Hash alias #| merge, and the case for Hash and Array polymorphism

Added by trans (Thomas Sawyer) over 10 years ago. Updated about 6 years ago.

Status:
Open
Assignee:
-
Target version:
-
[ruby-core:56536]

Description

Ideally Hash and Array would be completely polymorphic in every manner in which it is possible for them to be so. The reason for this is very simple. It makes a programmer's life easier. For example, in a recent program I was working on, I had a list of keyboard layouts.

layouts = [layout1, layout2, layout3]

Later I realized I wanted to identify them by a label not an index. So...

layouts = {:foo => layout1, :bar => layout2, :baz => layout3}

Unfortunately this broke my program in a number of places, and I had to go through every use of layouts to translate what was an Array call into a Hash call. If Array and and Hash were more polymorphic I would have only had to adjust the places were I wanted to take advantage of the Hash. Ideally almost nothing should have actually broken.

The achieve optimal polymorphism between Hash and Array is to treat a Hash's keys as indexes and its values as as the values of an array. e.g.

a = [:a,:b,:c]
h = {0=>:a,1=>:b,2=>:c}
a.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]
h.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]

Of course the ship has already sailed for some methods that are not polymorphic, in particular #each. Nonetheless it would still be wise to try to maximize the polymorphism going forward. (Perhaps even to be willing to take a bold leap in Ruby 3.0 to break some backward compatibility to improve upon this.)

In the mean time, let us consider what it might mean for Hash#+ as an alias for #merge, if the above were so:

([:a,:b] + [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] + [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b,:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Damn! So it appears that #+ isn't the right operator. Let's try #| instead.

([:a,:b] | [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] | [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Bingo. So I formally stand corrected. The best alias for merge is #| not #+.

Based on this line of reasoning I formally request the Hash#| be an alias of Hash#merge.

P.S. Albeit, given the current state of polymorphism between Ruby's Array and Hash, and the fact that it will probably never be improved upon, I doubt it really matters which operator is actually used.

Updated by david_macmahon (David MacMahon) over 10 years ago

On Aug 10, 2013, at 7:46 PM, trans (Thomas Sawyer) wrote:

Based on this line of reasoning I formally request the Hash#| be an alias of Hash#merge.

Issue #7739 is similar, but requests that Hash#| be added an alias for ActiveSupport's Hash#reverse_merge.

I think that the functionality of ACtiveSupport's Hash#reverse_merge is more inline with your Array#| analogy than Hash#merge would be.

Dave

Updated by fuadksd (Fuad Saud) over 10 years ago

This wouldn't head towards any polymorphic approach, but isn't << a better operator for merging? It fells like you're shoving all the contents of the argument to the receiver hash. I think it represents better the functionality of the method.

Updated by david_macmahon (David MacMahon) over 10 years ago

I think Hash#<< would be a good alias for Hash#merge! (the in place form, since Array#<< and String#<< both modify the receiver in place).

That does not preclude Hash#| being used for reverse_merge functionality.

Dave

On Aug 13, 2013, at 12:21 PM, fuadksd (Fuad Saud) wrote:

Issue #8772 has been updated by fuadksd (Fuad Saud).

This wouldn't head towards any polymorphic approach, but isn't << a better operator for merging? It fells like you're shoving all the contents of the argument to the receiver hash. I think it represents better the functionality of the method.

Feature #8772: Hash alias #| merge, and the case for Hash and Array polymorphism
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/8772#change-41142

Author: trans (Thomas Sawyer)
Status: Open
Priority: Normal
Assignee:
Category: core
Target version: current: 2.1.0

Ideally Hash and Array would be completely polymorphic in every manner in which it is possible for them to be so. The reason for this is very simple. It makes a programmer's life easier. For example, in a recent program I was working on, I had a list of keyboard layouts.

layouts = [layout1, layout2, layout3]

Later I realized I wanted to identify them by a label not an index. So...

layouts = {:foo => layout1, :bar => layout2, :baz => layout3}

Unfortunately this broke my program in a number of places, and I had to go through every use of layouts to translate what was an Array call into a Hash call. If Array and and Hash were more polymorphic I would have only had to adjust the places were I wanted to take advantage of the Hash. Ideally almost nothing should have actually broken.

The achieve optimal polymorphism between Hash and Array is to treat a Hash's keys as indexes and its values as as the values of an array. e.g.

a = [:a,:b,:c]
h = {0=>:a,1=>:b,2=>:c}
a.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]
h.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]

Of course the ship has already sailed for some methods that are not polymorphic, in particular #each. Nonetheless it would still be wise to try to maximize the polymorphism going forward. (Perhaps even to be willing to take a bold leap in Ruby 3.0 to break some backward compatibility to improve upon this.)

In the mean time, let us consider what it might mean for Hash#+ as an alias for #merge, if the above were so:

([:a,:b] + [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] + [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b,:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Damn! So it appears that #+ isn't the right operator. Let's try #| instead.

([:a,:b] | [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] | [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Bingo. So I formally stand corrected. The best alias for merge is #| not #+.

Based on this line of reasoning I formally request the Hash#| be an alias of Hash#merge.

P.S. Albeit, given the current state of polymorphism between Ruby's Array and Hash, and the fact that it will probably never be improved upon, I doubt it really matters which operator is actually used.

--
http://bugs.ruby-lang.org/

Updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) over 10 years ago

=begin
david_macmahon (David MacMahon) wrote:

I think Hash#<< would be a good alias for Hash#merge! (the in place form, since Array#<< and String#<< both modify the receiver in place).

The #<< operator does quite a different thing than either #merge or #reverse_merge:

[1,2] << [3,4] #=> [1, 2, [3, 4]]
=end

Updated by david_macmahon (David MacMahon) over 10 years ago

On Aug 14, 2013, at 10:41 AM, alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) wrote:

The #<< operator does quite a different thing than either #merge or #reverse_merge:

[1,2] << [3,4] #=> [1, 2, [3, 4]]

Arrays are quite a different thing from Hashes, so it would not be surprising for Array#<< to do quite a different thing than Hash#<<, but the general concept in both cases is the same: "insert the operand into the receiver".

In the case of Array, the operand can be inserted as-is.

In the case of Hash, the operand cannot be inserted as-is because it's not clear whether to treat the operand as a key with a nil value (not very useful for Hash) or as a value with an unspecified key (also not useful for Hash). Instead, it does make sense to treat the operand to Hash#<< as a collection of key/value pairs to be inserted, which makes it very much like Hash#merge!.

(All IMHO, of course.)

Dave

Updated by trans (Thomas Sawyer) over 10 years ago

Actually I think #<< is good too. But it's definition needs to be a bit more flexible than just merge. That's because it needs to do this:

h = {}
h << [:a,1]
h << [:b,2]
h #=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}

Which is very useful polymorphically. Aagain, following a polymorphic principle, this too can be derived.

Nonetheless, there should be no problem with it also supporting single entry hashes:

h = {}
h << {:a => 1}
h << {:b => 2}
h #=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}

And by its very nature that means

h = {}
h << {:a => 1, :b => 2}
h #=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}

works just fine too.

So, yea +1 for #<<. But it is not the exact same thing as #merge, or even #merge!.

Updated by david_macmahon (David MacMahon) over 10 years ago

On Aug 14, 2013, at 3:37 PM, trans (Thomas Sawyer) wrote:

So, yea +1 for #<<. But it is not the exact same thing as #merge, or even #merge!.

Do you mean that it is not the exact same thing as #merge! because it would accept objects other than Hashes? Do you agree that given a Hash argument it would be equivalent to Hash#merge!? If yes to both of those then our thoughts have merged! :-)

Dave

Updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) over 10 years ago

david_macmahon (David MacMahon) wrote:

On Aug 14, 2013, at 10:41 AM, alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) wrote:

The #<< operator does quite a different thing than either #merge or #reverse_merge:

[1,2] << [3,4] #=> [1, 2, [3, 4]]

Arrays are quite a different thing from Hashes, so it would not be surprising for Array#<< to do quite a different thing than Hash#<<, but the general concept in both cases is the same: "insert the operand into the receiver".

I agree that Array#<<, Fixnum#<<, and String#<< are not awfully similar. Maybe it is ok to use Hash#<< as #merge! or similar. It would be nice however IMO to have something like that for #reverse_merge! too.

Updated by david_macmahon (David MacMahon) over 10 years ago

On Aug 17, 2013, at 8:55 AM, alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) wrote:

Maybe it is ok to use Hash#<< as #merge or similar. It would be nice however IMO to have something similar for #reverse_merge too.

I completely agree that it would be nice to have an operator for Hash that behaved similar to reverse_merge. Using Hash#| as a reverse_merge-ish operator is being discussed in #7739. I think I would end up using the reverse_merge-ish operator more than the merge-ish operator.

Dave

Updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) over 10 years ago

=begin
How about (({Hash#<<})) for (({#merge!})) (plus maybe extra functionality suggested by Thomas), (({Hash#<<|})) for (({#reverse_merge!})) (plus extra), (({Hash#<<&})) for (({#merge!})) which only touches existing keys (plus extra):

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } << { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 1, :c => 2 }

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } <<| { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 2, :c => 2 }

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } <<& { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 1 }

Everything changes the receiver in place.

(I am not opening a new ticket for this because i am not yet sure i am excited about quite different behavior of #<< in different classes.)

((Update 2013-08-19))

I meant in fact (({#|<<})) and (({#&<<})):

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } |<< { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 2, :c => 2 }

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } &<< { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 1 }
=end

Updated by david_macmahon (David MacMahon) over 10 years ago

Does Ruby even support compound operators like "<<|" and "<<&"?

Dave

On Aug 17, 2013, at 11:48 AM, alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) wrote:

Issue #8772 has been updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov).

=begin
How about (({Hash#<<})) for (({#merge!})) (plus, maybe extra functionality suggested by Thomas), (({Hash#<<|})) for (({#reverse_merge!})) (plus extra), (({Hash#<<&})) for (({#merge!})) which only touches existing keys (plus extra):

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } << { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 1, :c => 2 }

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } <<| { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 2, :c => 2 }

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } <<& { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 1 }

Everything changes the receiver in place.

(I am not opening a new ticket for this because i am not yet sure i am excited about quite different behavior of #<< in different classes.)
=end


Feature #8772: Hash alias #| merge, and the case for Hash and Array polymorphism
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/8772#change-41228

Author: trans (Thomas Sawyer)
Status: Open
Priority: Normal
Assignee:
Category: core
Target version: current: 2.1.0

Ideally Hash and Array would be completely polymorphic in every manner in which it is possible for them to be so. The reason for this is very simple. It makes a programmer's life easier. For example, in a recent program I was working on, I had a list of keyboard layouts.

layouts = [layout1, layout2, layout3]

Later I realized I wanted to identify them by a label not an index. So...

layouts = {:foo => layout1, :bar => layout2, :baz => layout3}

Unfortunately this broke my program in a number of places, and I had to go through every use of layouts to translate what was an Array call into a Hash call. If Array and and Hash were more polymorphic I would have only had to adjust the places were I wanted to take advantage of the Hash. Ideally almost nothing should have actually broken.

The achieve optimal polymorphism between Hash and Array is to treat a Hash's keys as indexes and its values as as the values of an array. e.g.

a = [:a,:b,:c]
h = {0=>:a,1=>:b,2=>:c}
a.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]
h.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]

Of course the ship has already sailed for some methods that are not polymorphic, in particular #each. Nonetheless it would still be wise to try to maximize the polymorphism going forward. (Perhaps even to be willing to take a bold leap in Ruby 3.0 to break some backward compatibility to improve upon this.)

In the mean time, let us consider what it might mean for Hash#+ as an alias for #merge, if the above were so:

([:a,:b] + [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] + [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b,:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Damn! So it appears that #+ isn't the right operator. Let's try #| instead.

([:a,:b] | [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] | [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Bingo. So I formally stand corrected. The best alias for merge is #| not #+.

Based on this line of reasoning I formally request the Hash#| be an alias of Hash#merge.

P.S. Albeit, given the current state of polymorphism between Ruby's Array and Hash, and the fact that it will probably never be improved upon, I doubt it really matters which operator is actually used.

--
http://bugs.ruby-lang.org/

Updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) over 10 years ago

david_macmahon (David MacMahon) wrote:

Does Ruby even support compound operators like "<<|" and "<<&"?

They would need to be new operators, i think.

Updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) over 10 years ago

trans (Thomas Sawyer) wrote:

Actually I think #<< is good too. But it's definition needs to be a bit more flexible than just merge. That's because it needs to do this:

h = {}
h << [:a,1]
h << [:b,2]
h #=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}

Thomas, why h[:a] = 1, h[:b] = 2 wouldn't work for you? Or h << [[:a, 1], [:b, 2]].to_h (#7292) ?

Updated by fuadksd (Fuad Saud) over 10 years ago

I don't think merge shoud be responsible for handling special cases like
the array. You really should convert the array to a hash before.

If you need to use such thing as reverse_merge!, why not use it like this:

user_opts |= defaults

being "|" an alias for anon destructive reverse_merge? I don't like havin
"|" as a destructive operator.

As for new operators, reverse_merge would be better represented as >>, but
I don't think that's going to be approved.

I'd still stick with << aliased to merge!, but | to reverse_merge is
interesting as well.
On Aug 17, 2013 4:32 PM, "alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov)" <
> wrote:

Issue #8772 has been updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov).

trans (Thomas Sawyer) wrote:

Actually I think #<< is good too. But it's definition needs to be a bit
more flexible than just merge. That's because it needs to do this:

h = {}
h << [:a,1]
h << [:b,2]
h #=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}

Thomas, why h[:a] = 1, h[:b] = 2 wouldn't work for you? Or h << [[:a, 1],
[:b, 2]].to_h (#7292) ?

Feature #8772: Hash alias #| merge, and the case for Hash and Array
polymorphism
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/8772#change-41231

Author: trans (Thomas Sawyer)
Status: Open
Priority: Normal
Assignee:
Category: core
Target version: current: 2.1.0

Ideally Hash and Array would be completely polymorphic in every manner in
which it is possible for them to be so. The reason for this is very simple.
It makes a programmer's life easier. For example, in a recent program I was
working on, I had a list of keyboard layouts.

layouts = [layout1, layout2, layout3]

Later I realized I wanted to identify them by a label not an index. So...

layouts = {:foo => layout1, :bar => layout2, :baz => layout3}

Unfortunately this broke my program in a number of places, and I had to go
through every use of layouts to translate what was an Array call into a
Hash call. If Array and and Hash were more polymorphic I would have only
had to adjust the places were I wanted to take advantage of the Hash.
Ideally almost nothing should have actually broken.

The achieve optimal polymorphism between Hash and Array is to treat a
Hash's keys as indexes and its values as as the values of an array. e.g.

a = [:a,:b,:c]
h = {0=>:a,1=>:b,2=>:c}
a.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]
h.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]

Of course the ship has already sailed for some methods that are not
polymorphic, in particular #each. Nonetheless it would still be wise to try
to maximize the polymorphism going forward. (Perhaps even to be willing to
take a bold leap in Ruby 3.0 to break some backward compatibility to
improve upon this.)

In the mean time, let us consider what it might mean for Hash#+ as an
alias for #merge, if the above were so:

([:a,:b] + [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] + [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b,:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Damn! So it appears that #+ isn't the right operator. Let's try #| instead.

([:a,:b] | [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] | [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Bingo. So I formally stand corrected. The best alias for merge is #| not
#+.

Based on this line of reasoning I formally request the Hash#| be an alias
of Hash#merge.

P.S. Albeit, given the current state of polymorphism between Ruby's Array
and Hash, and the fact that it will probably never be improved upon, I
doubt it really matters which operator is actually used.

--
http://bugs.ruby-lang.org/

Updated by rosenfeld (Rodrigo Rosenfeld Rosas) over 10 years ago

I believe it would be confusing if we had anything different from:

#<<: alias for merge!
#|: alias for merge

I understand how reverse_merge could be useful, but I believe that any of the alias above behaving as reverse_merge would be confusing.

Those alias would already be useful in cases people are using reverse_merge:

options.reverse_merge! a: 1

options = {a: 1} | options # not exactly the same, but usually has the same effect on most well written code

I'd even be fine with #>> as an alias for reverse_merge!

options >>= {a: 1} # options.reverse_merge! a: 1

Updated by fuadksd (Fuad Saud) over 10 years ago

Agreed.
On Aug 17, 2013 9:37 PM, "rosenfeld (Rodrigo Rosenfeld Rosas)" <
> wrote:

Issue #8772 has been updated by rosenfeld (Rodrigo Rosenfeld Rosas).

I believe it would be confusing if we had anything different from:

#<<: alias for merge!
#|: alias for merge

I understand how reverse_merge could be useful, but I believe that any of
the alias above behaving as reverse_merge would be confusing.

Those alias would already be useful in cases people are using
reverse_merge:

options.reverse_merge! a: 1

options = {a: 1} | options # not exactly the same, but usually has the
same effect on most well written code

I'd even be fine with #>> as an alias for reverse_merge!

options >>= {a: 1} # options.reverse_merge! a: 1

Feature #8772: Hash alias #| merge, and the case for Hash and Array
polymorphism
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/8772#change-41239

Author: trans (Thomas Sawyer)
Status: Open
Priority: Normal
Assignee:
Category: core
Target version: current: 2.1.0

Ideally Hash and Array would be completely polymorphic in every manner in
which it is possible for them to be so. The reason for this is very simple.
It makes a programmer's life easier. For example, in a recent program I was
working on, I had a list of keyboard layouts.

layouts = [layout1, layout2, layout3]

Later I realized I wanted to identify them by a label not an index. So...

layouts = {:foo => layout1, :bar => layout2, :baz => layout3}

Unfortunately this broke my program in a number of places, and I had to go
through every use of layouts to translate what was an Array call into a
Hash call. If Array and and Hash were more polymorphic I would have only
had to adjust the places were I wanted to take advantage of the Hash.
Ideally almost nothing should have actually broken.

The achieve optimal polymorphism between Hash and Array is to treat a
Hash's keys as indexes and its values as as the values of an array. e.g.

a = [:a,:b,:c]
h = {0=>:a,1=>:b,2=>:c}
a.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]
h.to_a #=> [:a,:b,:c]

Of course the ship has already sailed for some methods that are not
polymorphic, in particular #each. Nonetheless it would still be wise to try
to maximize the polymorphism going forward. (Perhaps even to be willing to
take a bold leap in Ruby 3.0 to break some backward compatibility to
improve upon this.)

In the mean time, let us consider what it might mean for Hash#+ as an
alias for #merge, if the above were so:

([:a,:b] + [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] + [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b,:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} + {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Damn! So it appears that #+ isn't the right operator. Let's try #| instead.

([:a,:b] | [:c,:d]).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {2=>:c,3=>:d}).to_a => [:a,:b,:c,:d]

([:a,:b] | [:a,:b]).to_a => [:a,:b]
({0=>:a,1=>:b} | {0=>:a,1=>:b}).to_a => [:a,:b]

Bingo. So I formally stand corrected. The best alias for merge is #| not
#+.

Based on this line of reasoning I formally request the Hash#| be an alias
of Hash#merge.

P.S. Albeit, given the current state of polymorphism between Ruby's Array
and Hash, and the fact that it will probably never be improved upon, I
doubt it really matters which operator is actually used.

--
http://bugs.ruby-lang.org/

Updated by alexeymuranov (Alexey Muranov) over 10 years ago

=begin
rosenfeld (Rodrigo Rosenfeld Rosas) wrote:

I understand how reverse_merge could be useful, but I believe that any of the alias above behaving as reverse_merge would be confusing.

Just in case, let me explain the motivation for proposing (({#<<|})) and (({#<<&})).

((Edited 2013-08-19.))

I have realized i should have proposed (({#|<<})) and (({#&<<})) instead, by analogy with (({#|=})) and (({#&=})).

My idea was that

h1 |<< h2

should be mostly equivalent to

h1 << (h1 | h2)

and

h1 &<< h2

be mostly equivalent to

h1 << (h1 & h2)

where

{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } | { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :a => 1, :b => 2, :c => 2 }
{ :a => 1, :b => 2 } & { :b => 1, :c => 2 } # => { :b => 1 }

"Mostly equivalent" here means mostly equivalent in behavior, not in implementation.

The reason for defining (({#|})) as reverse merge is to have the closest behavior to "(({1 || 2}))", as i said in #7739.
The operator (({#&})) for hashes does not seem very useful on its own, so it is invented only for illustration.
=end

Updated by trans (Thomas Sawyer) over 10 years ago

=begin
Allowing Hash#<< to take a key-value pair, i.e. [:a,1], provides useful polymorphism between hash and associative arrays. And that's because in Ruby the way it represents a key-value pair is via a two-element array. We see this when use Hash.each { |q| .. }, q is an array pair. So for example:

h = {:a=>1, :b=>2}

i = []
obj.inject(i) do |j, q|
  j << q
end
=> [[:a,1], [:b,2]]

i = {}
h.inject(i) do |j, q|
  j << q
end
=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}

We were able to use the same routine regardless of whether i is an array or a hash. And notice that Hash#to_a produces the associative array.

_.to_a #=> [[:a,1], [:b,2]]

Without this polymorphism, we would have to write more complex code to handle an array vs a hash case. But by simpling allowing #<< to handle key-value pairs, we get a lot more bang for our coding buck.
=end

Updated by naruse (Yui NARUSE) over 10 years ago

  • Target version changed from 2.1.0 to 2.6

Updated by fuadksd (Fuad Saud) over 10 years ago

Just pinging. Any more ideas on this matter?

Actions #22

Updated by naruse (Yui NARUSE) about 6 years ago

  • Target version deleted (2.6)
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