Noob ? - Diff Between "action => :index" and "action => 'index'" ?

rubyonrails-talk
1

What is the difference between specifiying a link_to action with a ":" vs. "''" ?

Example:

<%= link_to "Continue your spree", :action => :index %>

vs.

<%= link_to "Continue your spree", :action => 'index' %>

Is there one?

2

In one case you're passing the string 'index' and in the other case a symbol. rails doesn't care though.

Fred

3

Are there any benefits (from a programming perspective) of using one convention over the other?

tnx

4

Without getting into the details, symbols use less memory.

5

Without getting into the details, symbols use less memory.

On the other hand they can't be garbage collected. In practical terms,
I don't think it makes much difference either way.

Fred

6

But symbols never get GC'd. So use enough symbols, and you permanently use more memory.

My rule of thumb for symbol use: - hash keys - config specifications (has_many :my_things) - State designators (:open, :closed)

If it's a name of something , or something that gets displayed to the user, in most cases I'll use strings.

Jason

7

Jason Roelofs wrote:

But symbols never get GC'd. So use enough symbols, and you permanently use more memory.

My rule of thumb for symbol use: - hash keys - config specifications (has_many :my_things) - State designators (:open, :closed)

If it's a name of something , or something that gets displayed to the user, in most cases I'll use strings.

Jason

The memory argument is moot in Rails as it uses both.

See HashWithIndifferentAccess: http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/HashWithIndifferentAccess.html

Rails' hashes use both.

8

Nearly nothing uses HashWithIndifferentAccess, (only the params hash I think). Deep down on the inside, it's a hash with string keys, but if you give it a symbol key it will convert that to a string first (and some other niceties related to that).

Fred