David A. Black wrote:
> Hi --
>
> On Mon, 17 Sep 2007, 7stud -- wrote:
>
>>
>> |
>> symbol_obj
>> id:2545934
>> ^ ^ ^
>> | | |
>> s1 s2 s3
>
> If the top arrow means that the symbol :hello contains a reference to
> a string "hello", in the same way that s1-3 are bound to references to
> :hello, then I would say that's the error.

Yes, the arrows stand for references.

> A symbol can be converted
> to a string, such that the string represents the same sequence of
> characters as the symbol; but the symbol is not a reference to a
> string object.
>

Interesting and puzzling. The symbol object has no member variable that
is a pointer to a string? As a consequence, the string object might
never exist in memory?
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On 9/17/07, 7stud -- <dolgun@excite.com> wrote:
> David A. Black wrote:
> > Hi --
> >
> > On Mon, 17 Sep 2007, 7stud -- wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> |
> >> symbol_obj
> >> id:2545934
> >> ^ ^ ^
> >> | | |
> >> s1 s2 s3
> >
> > If the top arrow means that the symbol :hello contains a reference to
> > a string "hello", in the same way that s1-3 are bound to references to
> > :hello, then I would say that's the error.
>
> Yes, the arrows stand for references.
>
> > A symbol can be converted
> > to a string, such that the string represents the same sequence of
> > characters as the symbol; but the symbol is not a reference to a
> > string object.
> >
>
> Interesting and puzzling. The symbol object has no member variable that
> is a pointer to a string? As a consequence, the string object might
> never exist in memory?

The exact situation is implementation dependent and the implementation
of symbols in Ruby has changed over time.

In general the interpreter/vm needs to be able to obtain the string
representation of a symbol, and also obtain/create a symbol from an
arbitrary string. There are several ways to achieve these
requirements.

I guess that it's literally true that in a minimal program like

:symbol

A string object "Symbol" might never exist in memory, but SOME
representation of that sequence of characters almost certainly does.

--
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/