How do you check for matching keys in a ruby hash? - ruby

Question

I'm learning coding, and one of the assignments is to return keys is return the names of people who like the same TV show.
I have managed to get it working and to pass TDD, but I'm wondering if I've taken the 'long way around' and that maybe there is a simpler solution?
Here is the setup and test:
class TestFriends < MiniTest::Test
def setup
#person1 = {
name: "Rick",
age: 12,
monies: 1,
friends: ["Jay","Keith","Dave", "Val"],
favourites: {
tv_show: "Friends",
things_to_eat: ["charcuterie"]
}
}
#person2 = {
name: "Jay",
age: 15,
monies: 2,
friends: ["Keith"],
favourites: {
tv_show: "Friends",
things_to_eat: ["soup","bread"]
}
}
#person3 = {
name: "Val",
age: 18,
monies: 20,
friends: ["Rick", "Jay"],
favourites: {
tv_show: "Pokemon",
things_to_eat: ["ratatouille", "stew"]
}
}
#people = [#person1, #person2, #person3]
end
def test_shared_tv_shows
expected = ["Rick", "Jay"]
actual = tv_show(#people)
assert_equal(expected, actual)
end
end
And here is the solution that I found:
def tv_show(people_list)
tv_friends = {}
for person in people_list
if tv_friends.key?(person[:favourites][:tv_show]) == false
tv_friends[person[:favourites][:tv_show]] = [person[:name]]
else
tv_friends[person[:favourites][:tv_show]] << person[:name]
end
end
for array in tv_friends.values()
if array.length() > 1
return array
end
end
end
It passes, but is there a better way of doing this?

Answer 1

I think you could replace those for loops with the Array#each. But in your case, as you're creating a hash with the values in people_list, then you could use the Enumerable#each_with_object assigning a new Hash as its object argument, this way you have your own person hash from the people_list and also a new "empty" hash to start filling as you need.
To check if your inner hash has a key with the value person[:favourites][:tv_show] you can check for its value just as a boolean one, the comparison with false can be skipped, the value will be evaluated as false or true by your if statement.
You can create the variables tv_show and name to reduce a little bit the code, and then over your tv_friends hash to select among its values the one that has a length greater than 1. As this will give you an array inside an array you can get from this the first element with first (or [0]).
def tv_show(people_list)
tv_friends = people_list.each_with_object(Hash.new({})) do |person, hash|
tv_show = person[:favourites][:tv_show]
name = person[:name]
hash.key?(tv_show) ? hash[tv_show] << name : hash[tv_show] = [name]
end
tv_friends.values.select { |value| value.length > 1 }.first
end
Also you can omit parentheses when the method call doesn't have arguments.