On: The string type is broken

[meepmorp]

I believe strings are mutable in Ruby.

[reflectiv → meepmorp]

They are...

    s = "hello"
    s << "   world"
    s # hello world

[dbaupp → reflectiv]

Is that allocating a new buffer, leaving the "hello" string to be collected by the GC?

[jeorgun → dbaupp]

No, it's operating in place:

    def append_world(str)
        str << " world"
    end

    a = "hello"
    append_world(a)
    a                       #=> "hello world"

[tedunangst → dbaupp]

No, it expands the existing buffer. (leaving " world" to be collected). Note that the following is different and more like what you're thinking.

    a = a + " world"