How come (a_method || :other) returns :other only when assigning to a var called a_method?
- by Paul Annesley
Given the following method:
def some_method
:value
end
The following statements work as I would expect:
some_method || :other
# => :value
x = some_method || :other
# => :value
But the behaviour of the following statement perplexes me:
some_method = some_method || :other
# => :other
It creates a local variable called some_method as expected, and subsequent calls to some_method return the value of that local variable. But why does it assign :other rather than :value?
I understand that it's probably not a smart thing to do, and can see how it might be ambiguous, but I thought the right-hand-side of the assignment should be evaluated prior to the assignment being considered...
I've tested this in Ruby 1.8.7 and Ruby 1.9.2 with identical results.
Cheers!
Paul
