---
title: "Page 142 by Jean Boussier, 2026-06-01"
page: 142
chapter: "chapter 5"
chapter_url: "https://poignant.guide/book/chapter-5.html"
writers:
  - name: "Jean Boussier"
    url: "https://whysfoxes.github.io/whysfoxes_web/people/byroot/"
date: 2026-06-01
canonical: "https://whysfoxes.github.io/whysfoxes_web/entries/142-116675595680554278/"
mastodon: "https://ruby.social/@whysfoxes/116675595680554278"
image: "https://whysfoxes.github.io/whysfoxes_web/_astro/116675539967764388.gSbVVFxO_9VaCf.jpeg"
---

# Page 142 by Jean Boussier, 2026-06-01

Page 142 of why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby, the paperback guest book. Written by [Jean Boussier](https://whysfoxes.github.io/whysfoxes_web/people/byroot/). It sits in [chapter 5](https://poignant.guide/book/chapter-5.html) of the book. Scanned, optimized and posted on 2026-06-01.

## Community message

> Constants should be frozen, really!
> byroot 🙂

## From the post on ruby.social

In a chapter titled "Them What Make the Rules and Them What Live the Dream", over a line of code that defines a CONSTANT as an array literal, @byroot writes:

The code below the note shows a #mutable array sitting smugly behind a SCREAMING_CASE name, pretending to be immutable. Jean could not walk past it.

Them what make the rules. Them what frozen the constants.
#whysfoxes #WhysPoignantGuideToRuby #WPGTRPage142 #ruby #immutable #RubyLang

## Image

![Scan of page 142](https://whysfoxes.github.io/whysfoxes_web/_astro/116675539967764388.gSbVVFxO_9VaCf.jpeg)

## Links

- [This page as HTML](https://whysfoxes.github.io/whysfoxes_web/entries/142-116675595680554278/)
- [The post on ruby.social](https://ruby.social/@whysfoxes/116675595680554278)