How do I pass variables between Ruby classes? - ruby

Question

I'm creating a card game with multiple classes. Currently, I'm using global variables to hold the $shuffled_deck, $players_hand, and $dealers_hand variables, but I worry when using global variables (perhaps, needlessly) and would prefer to use instance variables.
I've been reading around, but nothing is really clicking. Can anyone help point me in the right direction with this?
Using instance variables I haven't been able to save the #players_hand and #dealers_hand to be able to use them in other classes. For instance, I have #players_hand from the Player class. I have the Dealer class draw a card, but I can't pull that #players_hand into the Dealer class to add the two together.
My current code is:
class Blackjack
def initialize
#player = Player.new
#dealer = Dealer.new
end
end
class Dealer
def initialize
#deck = Deck.new
$dealers_hand = 0
end
def hit_dealer
#deck.hit_dealer
end
def hit_player
#deck.hit_player
end
def draw_card
#hit = $shuffled_deck
end
def shuffle
#deck.suits
end
end
class Player
def initialize
$players_hand = 0
end
end
class Deck
def suits
#code that shuffled the deck..
$shuffled_deck = #shuffled_deck
end
def hit_player
#hit = $shuffled_deck.pop
end
def hit_dealer
#hit = $shuffled_deck.pop
end
end

Answer 1

using your example you can do it like this
class Blackjack
attr_reader :player, :dealer
def initialize
#player = Player.new
#dealer = Dealer.new
end
end
class Dealer
def dealers_hand #the long java way of a getter
#dealers_hand
end
#and now the short ruby way
attr_reader :dealers_hand #if you only need to read the attribute
attr_writer :dealers_hand #if you only need to write the attribute
attr_accessor: dealers_hand #if you need both
def initialize
#deck = Deck.new
#dealers_hand = 5
end
def hit_dealer
#deck.hit_dealer
end
def hit_player
#deck.hit_player
end
def draw_card
#hit = $shuffled_deck
end
def shuffle
#deck.suits
end
end
class Player
attr_reader :players_hand
def initialize
#players_hand = 0
end
end
class Deck
def suits
attr_reader :shuffled_deck
#shuffled_deck = #shuffled_deck
end
def hit_player
#hit = $shuffled_deck.pop
end
def hit_dealer
#hit = $shuffled_deck.pop
end
end
game = Blackjack.new
p game.dealer.dealers_hand
game.dealer.dealers_hand = 4
p game.dealer.dealers_hand

Answer 2

You want to use attr_reader, attr_writer, or attr_accessor. Here's how they work:
attr_reader :players_hand: Allows you to write some_player.players_hand to get the value of that player's players_hand instance variable
attr_writer :players_hand: Allows you to write some_player.players_hand = 0 to set the variable to 0
attr_accessor :players_hand: Allows you to both read and write, as though you'd used both attr_reader and attr_writer.
Incidentally, all these do is write methods for you. If you wanted, you could do it manually like this:
class Player
def initialize
#players_hand = 0
end
def players_hand
#players_hand
end
def players_hand=(new_value)
#players_hand = new_value
end
end