Why "::", not "."

ruby-talk
1

Why does the method of modules use a dot, and the constants a double
colon?
e.g.
Math::PI and Math.cos

···

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2

For the same reason why inner-classes/modules use double colon, because they're constants and that's how you look up via constant namespace.

Math::PI and ActiveRecord::Base are the same type of lookup... it is just that Base is a module and PI is a float.

You can also use double-colon for invocation:

% ruby -e 'p Math::exp(1)'
2.71828182845905

but that is frowned upon as non-idiomatic ruby.

···

On Oct 26, 2010, at 01:48 , Oleg Igor wrote:

Why does the method of modules use a dot, and the constants a double
colon?
e.g.
Math::PI and Math.cos

3

Not so much non-idiomatic as archaic.

Kind of like using thee and thou, or goeth (as in "Pride goeth before
the fall") in modern English. <G>

···

On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 5:24 AM, Ryan Davis <ryand-ruby@zenspider.com> wrote:

You can also use double-colon for invocation:

% ruby -e 'p Math::exp(1)'
2.71828182845905

but that is frowned upon as non-idiomatic ruby.

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