Subtlety between Rails' #try & Ruby's #&.

Many would say that the safe navigation operator (&.) in Ruby is a drop in replacment for Rails' #try. However I came across an interesting case where they are not the same.

thing = nil
thing&.something
> nil

thing = nil
thing.try(:something)
> nil

Seems pretty much the same right?

However what happens when the object receiving the message is not nil but does not respond to the message?

thing = Thing.new
thing&.something
> NoMethodError: undefined method 'something' for <Thing:0x0000>

thing = Thing.new
thing.try(:something)
> nil

Hopefully not something you'll run into often, but definitely be aware of it. It makes the safe navigation operator not necessarily a drop in replacment.