I am not sure how to put this question without it being wordy and confusing. I want to store a variable inside of another variable, and have those variables be specific to their home variable (basically creating a directory). Say I have three characters, Max, Sam, and Greg. I want to store how many treats each of these characters has.
So:
Max = [3 cookies, 4 donuts, 1 cakes]
Sam = [1 cookies, 5 donuts, 0 cakes]
Greg =[2 cookies, 4 donuts, 5 cakes]
And then later, I want to give or take away certain treats from a character, or ask how many of a certain kind of treat they have. How would I do this?
I want Max’s cookies to be independent from Sam’s cookies. However, I still want to be able to write a general method that can increase everyone’s cookies.
def givecookies
#cookies=(#cookies+1)
But then I want to be able to call how many cookies Max has. So, is there a way I can store a variable inside another variable, and then how do I call it? Like, instead of puts cookies, could I do something like puts (Max/cookies)?
I'm sorry for the awkwardness of the question. I've only been programming a few weeks, and I am still trying to pick up on the basics. There is probably a method out there for it, but I don't know what to look for.
You shell use hash-like structures, like Hash itself, Struct, or Hashie-based classes. I'd prefer to use, for example, Hashie gem and Hashie::Mash class as follows:
#h = Hashie::Mash.new
# ...
#h.Max = Hashie::Mash.new
#h.Max.cookies = 3
#h.Max.donuts = 4
#h.Max.cakes = 1
#h
# => #<Hashie::Mash Max=#<Hashie::Mash cakes=1 cookies=3 donuts=4>>
def givecookies
#h.each {|_,y| y.cookies += 1}
end
Or with built-in Struct:
s = Struct.new( :cookies, :donuts, :cakes )
#s = { :Max => s.new( 3, 4, 1 ),
:Sam => s.new( 1, 5, 0 ),
:Greg => s.new( 2, 4, 5 ) }
def givecookies
#s.each {|_,y| y.cookies += 1}
end
class Person
attr_accessor :name, :cookies
def initialize name, cookies = 0
#name = name
#cookies = cookies
end
end
p_max = Person.new 'Max', 3
puts "Max has #{p_max.cookies} cookies"
# ⇒ Max has 3 cookies
p_max.cookies += 2
puts "Max has #{p_max.cookies} cookies"
# ⇒ Max has 5 cookies
Hope it helps.
Related
Currently, I'm having print like this
print ((stamp_amount[0], 'first mark') unless stamp_amount[0].zero?), (', ' if !stamp_amount[0].zero? && !stamp_amount[1].zero?),
((stamp_amount[1], 'second mark') unless stamp_amount[1].zero?)
stamp_amount is an array with 2 integer values
Let's say in the current situation stamp_amount[0] = 10 and stamp_amount[1] = 3
Output preview:
10 first mark, 3 second mark
So if stamp_amount[0] = 0 the 10 first mark, part won't be show. Same if stamp_amount[1] = 0 the , 3 second mark part won't be shown
For me, it seems a little bit incorrect in terms of theory. Could you please suggest me the more correct or less painful print of this? :)
Cheers!
Your code is trying to join a sequence of up to two elements with a separator. The joining is a solved problem, see Array#join.
The problem can be then reduced to "how can I produce the correct sequence, given my stamp_amount input". Now this can be done in a thousand ways. Here's one:
def my_print(stamp_amount)
ary = [
!stamp_amount[0].zero? && stamp_amount[0],
!stamp_amount[1].zero? && stamp_amount[1],
].select{|elem| elem }
ary.join(', ')
end
my_print([10, 3]) # => "10, 3"
my_print([0, 3]) # => "3"
my_print([10, 0]) # => "10"
my_print([0, 0]) # => ""
Here's another
ary = []
ary << stamp_amount[0] unless stamp_amount[0].zero?
ary << stamp_amount[1] unless stamp_amount[1].zero?
ary.join(', ')
Here's yet another. This version can handle stamp_amount of any length.
ary = stamp_amount.reject(&:zero?)
ary.join(', ')
I'd go with the third, but the second one may be the easiest to understand for a beginner.
Use the select, as an alternative to reject (shown in part 3 of the answer by Sergio Tulentsev). It is just asa readable, and depending on the context and on the future changes to the code, you may prefer one versus the other.
puts stamp_amount.select{ |a| !a.zero? }.join(", ")
A few examples of inputs and outputs are:
stamp_amount output
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
10, 3 10, 3
10, 0 10
0, 3 3
0, 0 (prints an empty line, because the selected array is empty)
You're calculating zero? on index points more often than is needed, but the first thing I would look at refactoring here is the readability of the code. It might be nicer to calculate the message to print outside of the print method and explain what is happening with variable names.
# rubocop is going to complain about variable assignment like this
first_amount, second_amount = *stamp_amount
We can actually use the reason rubocop prefers the .zero? over == 0 or .empty? method to guide our development. zero? is in essence just empty? but it communicates the meaning of what you are attempting to do in a better manner. I would use this reasoning when assigning strings to variables that explain what they are doing.
some_name_that_explains_what_this_is_0 = "#{first_amount} piecu centu marka"
some_name_that_explains_what_this_is_1 = "#{second_amount} tris centu marka"
Your current code is confusing as you have the possibility of printing a string like "10 tris centu marka" which does not make lexical sense and probably not what you are after considering tis evaluates to 'second mark', which would pose an issue if the first value is zero. We also could reject zero integers before we start converting them to strings.
array = [1, 0].reject(&:zero?)
Now we can take the array and do something like:
string = []
array.each_with_index { |e, i| string << "#{e} #{Ordinalize.new(i).ordinalize} mark" }
message = string.join(', ')
print(message)
# ord class
class Ordinalize
def initialize(value)
#value = value
end
def ordinalize
mapping[#value]
end
def mapping
# acounting for zero index
['first', 'second']
end
end
where we are calculating the ordinalization and letting our new class handle the sentence structure for us.
Outputs:
[1, 0] => "1 first mark"
[0, 1] => "1 first mark"
[1, 2] => "1 first mark, 2 second mark"
I'm getting familiar with ruby send method, but for some reason, I can't do something like this
a = 4
a.send(:+=, 1)
For some reason this doesn't work. Then I tried something like
a.send(:=, a.send(:+, 1))
But this doesn't work too. What is the proper way to fire plus equals through 'send'?
I think the basic option is only:
a = a.send(:+, 1)
That is because send is for messages to objects. Assignment modifies a variable, not an object.
It is possible to assign direct to variables with some meta-programming, but the code is convoluted, so far the best I can find is:
a = 1
var_name = :a
eval "#{var_name} = #{var_name}.send(:+, 1)"
puts a # 2
Or using instance variables:
#a = 2
var_name = :#a
instance_variable_set( var_name, instance_variable_get( var_name ).send(:+, 1) )
puts #a # 3
See the below :
p 4.respond_to?(:"+=") # false
p 4.respond_to?(:"=") # false
p 4.respond_to?(:"+") # true
a+=1 is syntactic sugar of a = a+1. But there is no direct method +=. = is an assignment operator,not the method as well. On the other hand Object#send takes method name as its argument. Thus your code will not work,the way you are looking for.
It is because Ruby doesn't have = method. In Ruby = don't work like in C/C++ but it rather assign new object reference to variable, not assign new value to variable.
You can't call a method on a, because a is not an object, it's a variable, and variables aren't objects in Ruby. You are calling a method on 4, but 4 is not the thing you want to modify, a is. It's just not possible.
Note: it is certainly possible to define a method named = or += and call it, but of course those methods will only exist on objects, not variables.
class Fixnum
define_method(:'+=') do |n| self + n end
end
a = 4
a.send(:'+=', 1)
# => 5
a
# => 4
This might miss the mark a bit, but I was trying to do this where a is actually a method dynamically called on an object. For example, with attributes like added_count and updated_count for Importer I wrote the following
class Importer
attr_accessor :added_count, :updated_count
def increment(method)
send("#{method}=", (send(method) + 1))
end
end
So I could use importer.increment(:added_count) or importer.increment(:updated_count)
Now this may seem silly if you only have these 2 different counters but in some cases we have a half dozen or more counters and different conditions on which attr to increment so it can be handy.
I have the following two variables:
a = 1;
b = 'a';
I want to be able to do
SOMETYPEOFEVALUATION(b) = 2;
so that the value of variable a is now set to 2.
a # => 2
Is this possible?
Specifically, I am working with the Facebook API. Each object has a variety of different connections (friends, likes, movies, etc). I have a parser class that stores the state of the last call to the Facebook API for all of these connections. These states are all named corresponding to the the GET you have to call in order to update them.
For example, to update the Music connection, you use https://graph.facebook.com/me/music?access_token=... I store the result in a variable called updated_music. For books, its updated_books. If I created a list of all these connection type names, I ideally want to do something like this.
def update_all
connection_list.each do |connection_name|
updated_SomeTypeOfEvalAndConcatenation(connection_name) = CallToAPI("https://graph.facebook.com/me/#{connection_name}?access_token=...")
end
end
Very new to both Rails and StackOverflow so please let me know if there is a better way to follow any conventions.
Tried the below.
class FacebookParser
attr_accessor :last_albums_json,
def update_parser_vars(service)
handler = FacebookAPIHandler.new
connections_type_list = ['albums']
connections_type_list.each do |connection_name|
eval "self.last_#{connection_name}_json = handler.access_api_by_content_type(service, #{connection_name})['data']"
end
#self.last_albums_json = handler.access_api_by_content_type(service, 'albums')['data']
end
end
And I get this error
undefined local variable or method `albums' for #<FacebookParser:0xaa7d12c>
Works fine when I use line that is commented out.
Changing an unrelated variable like that is a bit of a code smell; Most programmers don't like it when a variable magically changes value, at least not without being inside an enclosing class.
In that simple example, it's much more common to say:
a=something(b)
Or if a is a more complex thing, make it a class:
class Foo
attr_accessor :a
def initialize(value)
#a = value
end
def transform(value)
#a = "new value: #{value}"
end
end
baz = "something"
bar = Foo.new(2)
bar.a
=> 2
bar.transform(baz)
bar.a
=> "new value: something"
So while the second example changes an internal variable but not through the accessor, at least it is part of an encapsulated object with a limited API.
Update Ah, I think the question is how do do like php's variable variables. As mu suggests, if you want to do this, you are probably doing the wrong thing... it's a concept that should never have been thought of. Use classes or hashes or something.
how about
eval "#{b}=2"
and with instance variables you can also do instance_variable_set("#name", value)
EDIT:
you can also use send method if you have a setter defined(and you have), try this:
class FacebookParser
attr_accessor :last_albums_json,
def update_parser_vars(service)
handler = FacebookAPIHandler.new
connections_type_list = ['albums']
connections_type_list.each do |connection_name|
send("last_#{connection_name}_json=",
handler.access_api_by_content_type(
service, connection_name)['data']))
end
end
end
problem with your original code is that
eval ".... handler.access_api_by_content_type(service, #{connection_name})"
would execute
... handler.access_api_by_content_type(service, albums)
# instead of
... handler.access_api_by_content_type(service, 'albums')
so you had to write
eval ".... handler.access_api_by_content_type(service, '#{connection_name}')" <- the quotes!
this is why people usually avoid using eval - it's easy to do this kind of mistakes
These sort of things are not usually done using local variables and their names in Ruby. A usual approach could include hashes and symbols:
data = Hash.new
data[:a] = 1 # a = 1
b = :a # b = 'a'
and then, later
data[b] = 2 # SOMETYPEOFEVALUATION(b) = 2
data[:a] # => 2
So i need some support with my Ruby assignment, I'm not from US so you have to excuse my English.
We are building a hotel and this is the second assignment. It's a console based application and I have a class called main.rb that handles the runtime and a guest-class.
In this second assignment we are to preload the app with five guest-objects, I guess I have to use an array but don't really know how. Below are my guest class and my main class is simply a while-loop with a case statement.
I need help with:
adding 5 guests (not to a db or textfile only to a array or so) when the program starts
the hotel has 20 rooms and i need to randomize the room number and exclude already rented rooms
Hope you can help! Thanks!
class Guest
#Instance variables.
attr_accessor :firstName,
:lastName,
:address,
:phone,
:arrival,
:plot,
:gauge
#Constructor sets the guest details.
def initialize(first, last, adress, phone, arrival)
#firstName = first
#lastName = last
#address = address
#phone = phone
#arrival = arrival
#plot = range_rand(1,32)
#gauge = range_rand(2000,4000)
end
#Using rand()-method to randomize a value between min and max parameters.
def range_rand(min,max)
min + rand(max-min)
end
def to_string
"Name = #{#firstName} , Plot = #{#plot}"
end
end
Creating an array:
number_array = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Accessing the elements of an array:
number_array[2]
# this would return the integer 3
Adding a new element to an array:
number_array << 6
# this would return [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
You can create a new guest by doing something like this:
Guest.new("John", "Doe", "1500 main street", "123-456-7890", "1/1/2010")
Since this is a homework assignment, I'll leave it to you to combine everything into a working solution ;)
Other people have already answered the first part of your question, so I'll help you with the second one (I'll provide the minimum, so that you still have some work to do :) )
You could create an array containing the 20 room numbers :
empty_rooms = (1..20).to_array
Then for each guest :
1) Take a random number in this array ( hint : randomize the index )
2) Remove this number from the array
3) And assign the room number to a Guest
4) Add the guest to the array of guests
I think what you mean is that you want 5 guest objects. You could put them in an array by creating an array literal and then adding guests to it
#guests = []
#guests << Guest.new()
#guests << Guest.new()
now your #guests array has two guests, etc.
I just want to know the best way to emulate a C# style enumeration in Ruby.
Specifically, I would like to be able to perform logical tests against the set of values given some variable. Example would be the state of a window: "minimized, maximized, closed, open"
If you need the enumerations to map to values (eg, you need minimized to equal 0, maximised to equal 100, etc) I'd use a hash of symbols to values, like this:
WINDOW_STATES = { :minimized => 0, :maximized => 100 }.freeze
The freeze (like nate says) stops you from breaking things in future by accident.
You can check if something is valid by doing this
WINDOW_STATES.keys.include?(window_state)
Alternatively, if you don't need any values, and just need to check 'membership' then an array is fine
WINDOW_STATES = [:minimized, :maximized].freeze
Use it like this
WINDOW_STATES.include?(window_state)
If your keys are going to be strings (like for example a 'state' field in a RoR app), then you can use an array of strings. I do this ALL THE TIME in many of our rails apps.
WINDOW_STATES = %w(minimized maximized open closed).freeze
This is pretty much what rails validates_inclusion_of validator is purpose built for :-)
Personal Note:
I don't like typing include? all the time, so I have this (it's only complicated because of the .in?(1, 2, 3) case:
class Object
# Lets us write array.include?(x) the other way round
# Also accepts multiple args, so we can do 2.in?( 1,2,3 ) without bothering with arrays
def in?( *args )
# if we have 1 arg, and it is a collection, act as if it were passed as a single value, UNLESS we are an array ourselves.
# The mismatch between checking for respond_to on the args vs checking for self.kind_of?Array is deliberate, otherwise
# arrays of strings break and ranges don't work right
args.length == 1 && args.first.respond_to?(:include?) && !self.kind_of?(Array) ?
args.first.include?( self ) :
args.include?( self )
end
end
end
This lets you type
window_state.in? WINDOW_STATES
It's not quite the same, but I'll often build a hash for this kind of thing:
STATES = {:open => 1, :closed => 2, :max => 3, :min => 4}.freeze()
Freezing the hash keeps me from accidentally modifying its contents.
Moreover, if you want to raise an error when accessing something that doesn't exist, you can use a defualt Proc to do this:
STATES = Hash.new { |hash, key| raise NameError, "#{key} is not allowed" }
STATES.merge!({:open => 1, :closed => 2, :max => 3, :min => 4}).freeze()
STATES[:other] # raises NameError
I don't think Ruby supports true enums -- though, there are still solutions available.
Enumerations and Ruby
The easiest way to define an Enum in ruby to use a class with constant variables.
class WindowState
Open = 1
Closed = 2
Max = 3
Min = 4
end
Making a class or hash as others have said will work. However, the Ruby thing to do is to use symbols. Symbols in Ruby start with a colon and look like this:
greetingtype = :hello
They are kind of like objects that consist only of a name.