Ruby overuses []. It is used in Array literals, but it is also an operator (i.e. a method with odd syntax) on several classes: Array, String, Fixnum, Bignum, P

Ruby overuses []. It is used in Array literals, but it is also an operator (i.e. a method with odd syntax) on several classes: Array, String, Fixnum, Bignum, Proc. In a language with dynamic typing, we should avoid having methods (or operators) with the same name and different function since calling nonexistent methods is how we catch errors. The [] operator on Proc was new to me. I don't like the [] on Fixnum and Bignum, which is a bit operation: x[y] := (x << y) & 1. Hence my fixes to Ruby would be: $ irb 001> add = lambda {|x,y| x+y} => #<Proc:0x0000010089ef30@(irb):1 (lambda)> 002> add[1,2] => 3 003> 1[2] => 0 004> class Proc; undef_method :[]; end => Proc 005> class Fixnum; undef_method :[]; end => Fixnum 006> class Bignum; undef_method :[]; end => Bignum 007> add[1,2] NoMethodError: undefined method `[]' for #<Proc:0x0000010089ef30@(irb):1 (lambda)> from (irb):7 from /usr/local/bin/irb:12:in `<main>' 008> 1[2] NoMethodError: undefined method `[]' for 1:Fixnum from (irb):8 from /usr/local/bin/irb:12:in `<main>' 009> (100**100)[1] NoMethodError: undefined method `[]' for #<Bignum:0x00000101116f50> from (irb):9 from /usr/local/bin/irb:12:in `<main>' I'm also tempted to remove [] from String, but the usefulness probably outweighs the occasional confusion from thinking a String is an Array.