What's the proper hash syntax in Ruby 2.0? [closed]

Question

Should I use ?

{ :first_name => "Mathieu", :last_name => "Jackson" }

or

{ first_name: "Mathieu", last_name: "Jackson" } 

Answer 1

There is no difference between the two, so it is personal preference. Though I would expect most people writing new code for 2.0 will use the second format.

It's important to note that if you are developing for open-source / public consumption and want a wide user base you should use the "old" style of hashes. Ruby 1.8.x, as well as JRuby and other ruby implementations apart from RMI, does not support the terse syntax.