gistfile1.txt

x = "123"
case x
when /\d+/
   ...
when String
  ...
when 1..3
  ...
when "123"
  ...
end

# is equivalent to
if (/\d+/.=== x)
  ...
elsif (String.=== x)
  ...
elsif (1..3.=== x)
  ...
elsif ("123".=== x)
  ...
end


each class defines === in a way that makes sense... regexps try to match, classes check for the class of the object, ranges check for inclusion, strings check for equality, etc...

that's a powerful case/switch statement, Java is missing out on that (i think they made it slightly better for Java 7), also we're missing out on operator overloading. It's pretty cool you can be so expressive with Ruby.