Issue #19688 has been updated by rubyFeedback (robert heiler). I think I can somewhat understand the rationale for the issue, even though I personally don't really need it. I use mostly HEREDOC syntax, in particular: result = <<-EOF This is a heredoc. It provides a nice syntax for multiline strings EOF return result So I typically just capture it into a variable, and if necessary I then modify the variable before returning or displaying it on the commandline. I also stopped using =begin/=end a long time ago and just comment with '#' instead. This may be a bit more cumbersome to do when one uses a simple editor, but I found that it is also easier to understand and ultimately quicker in the long run. Although I have no data to back this up, I think most ruby users tend to use '#' and HEREDOC; =begin/=end is, I think, not as popular. Perhaps by being more flexible it could become more popular, but I am not certain. I think ruby user may not be that fond of the =begin/=end variant. As for rdoc: I don't like rdoc's syntax either. I feel the entries such as "@param xyz" are quite distracting. These are, however had, extremely popular - a lot of ruby gems use them, probably because the generated documentation e. g. in yard, can be quite helpful. PS: If tenderlove reads this, it reminds me a bit of his old blog entry "I am a puts debugger", with which I agree with. Simplicity is kind of neat. I guess a question here may be how long-term ruby developers out there comment their source code. =begin/=end is probably quite rare. ---------------------------------------- Feature #19688: Add indentable block comment syntax https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/19688#change-103284 * Author: ccmywish (Aoran Zeng) * Status: Feedback * Priority: Normal ---------------------------------------- Ruby's default block comment is using `=begin` and `=end` ```ruby =begin Some block comments =end ``` However, we must place them at the top of the line, thus we can't indent them, for example: ```ruby class A class B class C =begin The comment for this method =end def hello end end end end ``` This is something like the situation of `<<HEREDOC` and `<<-HEREDOC`. Finally, we added `<<~HEREDOC` which is very handy. Things become worse when documenting using `RDoc` and `YARD`, see the **686 lines** of the leading `#`, it's very trivial if we don't use block comment: https://github.com/ruby/net-http/blob/master/lib/net/http.rb#LL35C1-L721C1 So, I propose a new syntax to declare block comments using `#being` and `#end` ```ruby class A class B class C #begin The comment for this method @param str @return [String] Any other document. Now we are easy to break a line, without touching the leading `#` like before. #end def hello(str) end end end end ``` I've some thoughts on this: 1. Honestly, I don't know if `RDoc` and `YARD` rely on the line comment rather than block comment. 2. I choose `#begin` and `#end` because they still use the `#` symbol to denote that this is comment. 3. `#begin` and `#end`'s leading `#` doesn't conflict with the old `=begin` and `=end` for compatibility. 4. `#begin` may influence the speed of the lexer, because we now should scan at least later 5 characters after `#` -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/

Issue #19688 has been updated by matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto). Status changed from Feedback to Closed I can understand the need for multi-line comment (although I mostly use Emacs or IDE to comment a region out). But proposed `#begin` and `#end` is not acceptable, due to the compatibility issue @nobu mentioned. Matz. ---------------------------------------- Feature #19688: Add indentable block comment syntax https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/19688#change-103288 * Author: ccmywish (Aoran Zeng) * Status: Closed * Priority: Normal ---------------------------------------- Ruby's default block comment is using `=begin` and `=end` ```ruby =begin Some block comments =end ``` However, we must place them at the top of the line, thus we can't indent them, for example: ```ruby class A class B class C =begin The comment for this method =end def hello end end end end ``` This is something like the situation of `<<HEREDOC` and `<<-HEREDOC`. Finally, we added `<<~HEREDOC` which is very handy. Things become worse when documenting using `RDoc` and `YARD`, see the **686 lines** of the leading `#`, it's very trivial if we don't use block comment: https://github.com/ruby/net-http/blob/master/lib/net/http.rb#LL35C1-L721C1 So, I propose a new syntax to declare block comments using `#being` and `#end` ```ruby class A class B class C #begin The comment for this method @param str @return [String] Any other document. Now we are easy to break a line, without touching the leading `#` like before. #end def hello(str) end end end end ``` I've some thoughts on this: 1. Honestly, I don't know if `RDoc` and `YARD` rely on the line comment rather than block comment. 2. I choose `#begin` and `#end` because they still use the `#` symbol to denote that this is comment. 3. `#begin` and `#end`'s leading `#` doesn't conflict with the old `=begin` and `=end` for compatibility. 4. `#begin` may influence the speed of the lexer, because we now should scan at least later 5 characters after `#` -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/