# TITLE:
#
#   Symbol Generation
#
# DESCRIPTION:
#
#    Symbol generation extensions.
#
# AUTHORS:
#
#   CREDIT Thomas Sawyer
#
# NOTES:
#
#   TODO Is Symbol#chomp worth having? Are the any other
#        String methods that Symbols really should have too?

#
class Symbol

  # Generate a unique symbol.
  #
  #   Symbol.generate => :<1>
  #
  # If +suffix+ is given the new symbol will be suffixed with it.
  #
  #   Symbol.generate(:this) => :<2>this
  #
  #--
  # TODO Is the generated symbol format acceptable?
  #++
  def self.generate(suffix=nil)
    @symbol_generate_counter ||= 0
    ("<%X>#{suffix}" % @symbol_generate_counter += 1).to_sym
  end

end


#  _____         _
# |_   _|__  ___| |_
#   | |/ _ \/ __| __|
#   | |  __/\__ \ |_
#   |_|\___||___/\__|
#
=begin test

  require 'test/unit'

  class TestSymbol < Test::Unit::TestCase

    def test_generate
      assert_equal( Symbol.generate, :'<1>' )
    end

  end

=end