How deeply does The Well-Grounded Rubyist, Fourth Edition cover method pair?

Explains the pairing rule, behavioral differences, and naming rationale, but stops short of cataloging specific APIs.

Method pair

As explained in The Well-Grounded Rubyist, Fourth Edition

A method pair is a pair of similarly named Ruby methods in which the bang and nonbang forms perform substantially the same operation but differ in side effects, return value, or other behavior.

A method pair consists of similarly named Ruby methods whose bang and nonbang forms perform substantially the same operation but differ in side effects, return value, or another behavior. The exclamation point communicates a contrast; it has no useful meaning in isolation. section 7.3.2

Use bang notation when:

A same-named method without ! already exists. section 7.3.2
Both methods do substantially the same thing. section 7.3.2
The bang form changes side effects, return value, or another behavior. section 7.3.2

Naming a save operation

Name a file-writing method save when it backs up the original file, and reserve save! for a paired variant that writes without making that backup. Do not add ! merely because writing a file feels dangerous. section 7.3.2

How The Well-Grounded Rubyist, Fourth Edition covers it

Cover of The Well-Grounded Rubyist, Fourth Edition

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Related concepts

bang methodconfigured by · A bang method is a Ruby method whose name ends with an exclamation mark and conventionally indicates potentially unexpected or divergent behavior relative to a corresponding nonbang method.
nonbang methodhas part · A nonbang method is a Ruby method whose name lacks an exclamation-mark suffix and serves as the conventional counterpart to a bang method.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of The Well-Grounded Rubyist, Fourth Edition. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.