In comparison, Perl/Python/Javascript, which also have the latter property, have other false-like values (0 and empty string), which make || differ from a null-coalescing operator in many more cases (numbers and strings being two of the most frequently used data types). This is what led Perl/Python/Javascript to add a separate operator while Ruby hasn't.

Examples by languages

I have been doing different things w/ Ruby for a couple of years now and the only bad thing I can say about it is that it makes programming in other languages feel awfully burdensome. = )

Ruby's keyword args work a little differently than similar implementations (selectors in Objective C, for instance). The value on the right-hand side of the colon is the default, not the local name.

in languages (like JavaScript and Java) where external objects do have direct access to instance vars