I am new to Ruby, so please excuse this question if it is obvious.
I am working with a Module with a function signature that I don't understand. How would I call this function?
module Facter
...
def self.[](name)
collection.fact(name)
end
...
In my code I want to reference something that should be in collection.fact, in this Facter module. What syntax to I use to call this function?
Cheers
It works like this:
class MyModule
def self.[](arg)
puts arg
end
end
MyModule["Hello world"] # will print Hello world
Please see official docs:
https://ruby-doc.org/core/doc/syntax/methods_rdoc.html
Additionally, methods for element reference and assignment may be defined: [] and []= respectively. Both can take one or more arguments, and element reference can take none.
class C
def [](a, b)
puts a + b
end
def []=(a, b, c)
puts a * b + c
end
end
obj = C.new
obj[2, 3] # prints "5"
obj[2, 3] = 4 # prints "10"
So about example from docs
# From docs
obj[2, 3]
# It's the same as
obj.[](2, 3)
More interesting example
# From docs
obj[2, 3] = 4
# will print 10
# => 4
# It's the almost as
obj.[]=(2, 3, 4)
# will print 10
# => nil
As you see when you call as obj[2, 3] = 4 Ruby takes the value after = as the last argument of the []= method and return it as method result
And regardless of whether there is return in the method body. For example
class C
def []=(a, b, c)
puts "Before return"
return 12
puts "After return"
end
end
obj = C.new
obj[2, 3] = 4
# will print Before return
# => 4
obj.[]=(2, 3, 4)
# will print Before return
# => 12
It is desirable to define such method with more than one parameter. Technically, you can have only one, but the call will be like this obj[] = 1
Related
I need help understanding inheritance.
class MyArray < Array
end
a = MyArray[1, 2, 3] #=> [1, 2, 3]
b = MyArray[4, 5] #=> [4, 5]
c = a + b #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
a.class #=> MyArray
b.class #=> MyArray
c.class #=> Array
I don't understand why the result of the addition is not an instance of MyArray class.
I don't understand why my array "a" is not "MyArray" class after add.
Why should it (be a MyArray)? Concatenation operation on arrays is defined to return a new Array, so that's what happens here. https://ruby-doc.org/core-2.5.3/Array.html#method-i-2B
If you want, you can override that operation in your class to return an instance of MyArray. Don't forget about all other similar methods.
This is also why it's a bad idea to subclass standard collections. Better to use composition over inheritance here.
Just to add a bit to Sergio's answer in terms of his comment on using composition over inheritance and the exchange in the comments.
Instead of saying MyArray is an array you can say MyArrayLike has and array.
Then you can "forward" methods that make sense to the underlying array but still add your own functionality that makes sense for your class without sub-classing array.
Ruby even has several ways to make this very easy including the Forwardable module.
class MyArrayLike
attr_reader :arr
def initialize( initial_arr )
#arr = initial_arr
end
def +(other)
result = self.class.new(arr + other.arr)
# maybe you want to do more than just concat the underlying array, if so you can do it here
result
end
def first
# for example maybe you want first to just return the first item in the underlying array.
arr.first
end
end
a = MyArrayLike.new([1,2,3])
b = MyArrayLike.new([4,5])
puts "a.class = #{a.class}"
# => a.class = MyArrayLike
puts a
# => #<MyArrayLike:0x00000000dc4b00>
a += b
puts "a.class = #{a.class}"
# => a.class = MyArrayLike
puts a
# => #<MyArrayLike:0x00000000dc4470>
puts a.first
# => 1
puts a.arr
# => 1
# 2
# 3
# 4
# 5
Adding MyArray to MyArray to get Array may be counterintuitive, but a method can be defined to return any class. And in the case of Array#+, which you are calling, it just happens to be defined to return an Array. That's it.
If you want it to return a MyArray, one way to do it is to define MyArray#+ as follows:
class MyArray < Array
def +other
MyArray.new(super)
end
end
(MyArray.new([1, 2, 3]) + MyArray.new([4, 5])).class # => MyArray
By the way, notice that your MyArray#initialize definition is meaningless, and hence redundant.
Using this example:
arr = [1, 2, 3]
for elem in arr do
puts elem
end
puts elem # => 3
The code outputs:
1
2
3
3
elem contains the value even outside the loop. Why? What is it's scope outside the loop?
Can anyone clarify please?
That is expected. According to the documentation:
The for loop is similar to using each, but does not create a new variable scope.
Example with for:
for i in 1..3
end
i #=> 3
Example with each:
(1..3).each do |i|
end
i #=> NameError: undefined local variable or method `i'
If I'm not mistaken, methods (each, map, loop, upto) create variables scopes, whereas keywords (for, while, until) don't.
The for statement defines the variable elem and initializes it with the value of the current loop.
To avoid this use Array#each:
arr.each do |elem|
puts elem
end
# 1
# 2
# 3
# => [1, 2, 3]
elem
NameError: undefined local variable or method `elem' for main:Object
from (irb):5
from /usr/bin/irb:12:in `<main>'
Now the elem variable exists in the block only.
You can declare your variable elem outside the loop scope. So, if we modify your example:
arr = [1, 2, 3];
elem;
for elem in arr do
puts elem
end
puts elem # => 3
When using array.each you can specify the function in two forms:
Curly Braces:
a = [1,2,3]
a.each { |x| puts x * x }
Output:
1
4
9
=> [1, 2, 3]
'do' Syntax:
a = [1,2,3]
a.each do |x|
puts (x * x)
end
Output:
1
4
9
=> [1, 2, 3]
Question:
How can I replicate the 'do' syntax style with my own custom function? The closest to the curly brace style I can get is:
What I've tried:
def PutWith2Arg(proc)
puts proc.call(2)
end
PutWith2Arg(Proc.new { |x| x + 100 })
Output:
102
=> nil
The do |foo| … end and { |foo| … } syntaxes are equivalent. These are 'blocks' in Ruby, and any method can get them. To call them you need to either:
def my_method # No need to declare that the method will get a block
yield(42) if block_given? # Pass 42 to the block, if supplied
end
my_method do |n|
puts "#{n} times 2 equals #{n*2}"
end
#=> "42 times 2 equals 84"
my_method{ |n| puts "#{n} times 2 equals #{n*2}" }
#=> "42 times 2 equals 84"
my_method # does nothing because no block was passed
or, for more sophisticated uses:
def my_method( &blk ) # convert the passed block to a Proc named blk
blk.call( 42 ) if blk
end
# Same results when you call my_method, with or without a block
The latter style is useful when you need to pass the block on to another method. If you have a Proc or Lambda referenced by a variable, you can pass it to a method as the block for that method using the & syntax:
def my_method( &blk ) # convert the passed block to a Proc named blk
[1,2,3].each( &blk ) # invoke 'each' using the same block passed to me
end
my_method{ |x| p x=>x**2 }
#=> {1=>1}
#=> {2=>4}
#=> {3=>9}
For more details, this webpage is fairly instructive.
In PHP, I can do this:
$a = 1;
$c = 'a';
$$c = 2;
//now $a == 2
Is there any equivalent in ruby? By which I mean, any simple way to have it dereference a variable during execution like this? I'd rather not use eval, because it looks messy - I've already determined that eval can't be called as a method of a string.
It is possible but it's a bit more complicated., and you actually have two possibilities:
Kernel#local_variables
Returns the names of the current local variables.
fred = 1
for i in 1..10
# ...
end
local_variables #=> [:fred, :i]
Binding#local_variable_get/set
Returns a value of local variable symbol.
def foo
a = 1
binding.local_variable_get(:a) #=> 1
binding.local_variable_get(:b) #=> NameError
end
This method is short version of the following code.
binding.eval("#{symbol}")
if you just need this you can do
a = 1
c = 'a'
eval("#{c} = 2")
a == 2 # => true
... but this is moron way to do this
if you need this for instance variables
class Foo
attr_reader :a
def initialize
#a = 1
end
end
foo = Foo.new
foo.instance_variable_get(:a) #=> 1
foo.a #=> 1
foo.instance_variable_set(:"#a", 2)
foo.a #=> 2
...you can also eval instance like this:
# ...
foo.instance_eval do
#a = 'b'
end
foo.a # => 'b'
I'm doing http://www.rubeque.com/problems/queue-continuum/solutions/51a26923ba804b00020000df and I spent a while there. I can't realize why this code doesn't pass
def initialize(queue)
#q = queue
end
def pop(n=1)
#q.shift(n)
end
def push(arr)
arr.each { |x|
#q.push(x)
}
return true
end
def to_a
#q
end
but this works perfectly.
def initialize(queue)
#q = queue
end
def pop(*n)
#q.shift(*n)
end
def push(arr)
#q.push(*arr)
return true
end
def to_a
#q
end
i'm totally confused about
def pop(*n)
#q.shift(*n)
end
and
def push(arr)
#q.push(*arr)
end
why should I take (arr) as array and than change it into... *arr which is Array of array? I'm confused, please help!
The splat works in two ways.
When receiving arguments, it combines arguments into an array.
def foo *args; args end
foo(1) # => [1]
foo(1, 2, 3) # => [1, 2, 3]
When giving arguments, it decomposes an array into arguments.
def bar x, y, z; y end
bar(*[1, 2, 3]) # => 2
def baz x; x end
baz(1) # => [1]
baz(1, 2, 3) # => Error
The *arr you are wondering is the latter case. It is not an object like [1, 2, 3] (hence, not an array of arrays). It is a part of arguments (like 1, 2, 3) passed to a method.
There are other uses of splats (as in array literals, case statements, etc.), but their function is either of the two uses above.