syntax, lang = 'sweet', 'ruby'

@title, @mood, @fulltext = title, mood, fulltext

'Paul Bartlett' on Thu, 13 Jul 2006 09:16:43 GMT, sez:

It's especially "sweet" when capturing arguments, e.g.:

(source, dest, *opts) = ARGV

would assign the first argument to "source", the second to "dest" and the rest into the "opts" array.

'mouser' on Thu, 13 Jul 2006 09:19:43 GMT, sez:

assuming this isn't satire, an alternative take:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=4341

'Matthew Purdon' on Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:59:30 GMT, sez:

PHP can get close to this functionality with the list function.

http://www.php.net/list

$Beverage= array('coffee', 'brown', 'yes');
list($Name, $Colour, $Caffeinated) = $Beverage;

echo 'Gimme some ',$Name,'!!!';

'Eber Irigoyen' on Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:24:43 GMT, sez:

I can just see so much misuse and so many ugly bugs because of using this
I don't think is bad, I just think people would misuse it

'Jeffrey Snover' on Fri, 14 Jul 2006 02:28:45 GMT, sez:

Is this the same as what we do in PowerShell?
PS> $a,$b = 1,2,3,4,5
PS> $a
1
PS> $b
2
3
4
5

I use this technique in my response to your query RE: Cascading filetypes.
PS> $filename="MSH.xshd.orig.temp.v1"
PS> $base,$ext=$filename.Split(".")
PS> $base
MSH
PS> $ext
xshd
orig
temp
v1

Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell/Aspen Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx

'lb' on Fri, 14 Jul 2006 02:32:01 GMT, sez:

thanks for the response Jeffrey!

looks like powershell and ruby are similar but different on this front:
WHile ps has:

PS> $a,$b = 1,2,3,4,5
PS> $a
1
PS> $b
2
3
4
5

I think ruby would have:

RB> $a,$b = 1,2,3,4,5
RB> $a
1
RB $b
2

(See that the left over values are ignored)

both of them have their merits.

i think i like powershell's answer better, because i don't like the idea of data *not* being assigned when you've just tried to assign it.

'Rik Hemsley' on Fri, 14 Jul 2006 07:55:02 GMT, sez:

$a, $b = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Here, I'd prefer a syntax error than either the CAR/CDR thing or silently dropping remaining constants.

If something's ambiguous, I don't think it's good to pick the 'best' way, in someone's opinion - much better to force the programmer to explain what they mean.

'Ayende Rahien' on Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:20:27 GMT, sez:

Try Boo (http://boo.codehaus.org), it works there.

'Marc Stober' on Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:38:37 GMT, sez:

Same concept is already one of my favorite things about Python.

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