Why are methods in Ruby documentation preceded by a hash sign?

Question

When I see any Ruby method printed in text, it usually appears as:

Class#method 

or

#method 

Now, I would use:

Class.method 

Why are all Ruby methods preceded by a pound sign? Is there any reason for it?

Answer 1

Note that the convention is:

Class#method 

rather than

object#method 

In code you would have object.method, if object was an instance of class. The # convention is not used in code.

From the RDoc documentation:

Use :: for describing class methods, # for describing instance methods, and use . for example code.

Answer 2

The # notation is used to refer to the canonical instance method, like String#upcase. The . notation is used to refer to the method of a particular instance, like mystring.upcase. The distinction is made to not imply that a class method 'upcase' exists.