Ruby 3.4.0 Preview Released with Frozen String Literals Plan

TapTechNews May 17th news, the first preview version of Ruby 3.4.0 has been released. This version will prepare for enabling Frozen String Literals by default. From this version onwards, when users modify strings that do not contain the 'frozen_string_literal' magic comment, the software will require users to add relevant comments.

It is introduced that Ruby has introduced this 'freezing' mechanism since version 2.3. Developers can use the 'frozen_string_literal: true' magic comment to make all string literals in the file default to the frozen state, thereby avoiding accidental modification of strings when developers write programs, and also improving the stability and performance of the program and reducing unnecessary RAM allocation.

TapTechNews noticed. When Ruby introduced frozen_string_literal in version 2.3, it was originally planned to default to freezing string literal variables in Ruby 3.0, but due to a large number of compatibility issues, this plan was postponed. However, Yukihiro Matsumoto, the founder of Ruby, still hopes to enable this feature by default 'in the future'.

In order to make the enabling of this feature more feasible, a reasonable migration plan is needed to solve the problem of backward compatibility. Therefore, the development team introduced a 'deprecation schedule', and when users use Ruby 3.4.0 to modify strings without relevant magic comments, the system will require users to add 'frozen_string_literal'.

The Ruby team said that the relevant trade-offs are important measures in enhancing the performance and reliability of the language. Although it may require some adjustments from developers, the ultimate goal is to provide a more efficient and stable programming environment.