How to handle combination []+= for auto-vivifying hash in Ruby? - ruby

Question

In order to implement auto-vivification of Ruby hash, one can employ the following class
class AutoHash < Hash
def initialize(*args)
super()
#update, #update_index = args[0][:update], args[0][:update_key] unless
args.empty?
end
def [](k)
if self.has_key?k
super(k)
else
AutoHash.new(:update => self, :update_key => k)
end
end
def []=(k, v)
#update[#update_index] = self if #update and #update_index
super
end
def few(n=0)
Array.new(n) { AutoHash.new }
end
end
This class allows to do the following things
a = AutoHash.new
a[:a][:b] = 1
p a[:c] # => {} # key :c has not been created
p a # => {:a=>{:b=>1}} # note, that it does not have key :c
a,b,c = AutoHash.new.few 3
b[:d] = 1
p [a,b,c] # => [{}, {:d=>1}, {}] # hashes are independent
There is a bit more advanced definition of this class proposed by Joshua, which is a bit hard for me to understand.
Problem
There is one situation, where I think the new class can be improved. The following code fails with the error message NoMethodError: undefined method '+' for {}:AutoHash
a = AutoHash.new
5.times { a[:sum] += 10 }
What would you do to handle it? Can one define []+= operator?
Related questions
Is auto-initialization of multi-dimensional hash array possible in Ruby, as it is in PHP?
Multiple initialization of auto-vivifying hashes using a new operator in Ruby
ruby hash initialization r
still open: How to create an operator for deep copy/cloning of objects in Ruby?

Answer 1

There is no way to define a []+= method in ruby. What happens when you type
x[y] += z
is
x[y] = x[y] + z
so both the [] and []= methods are called on x (and + is called on x[y], which in this case is an AutoHash). I think that the best way to handle this problem would be to define a + method on AutoHash, which will just return it's argument. This will make AutoHash.new[:x] += y work for just about any type of y, because the "empty" version of y.class ('' for strings, 0 for numbers, ...) plus y will almost always equal y.
class AutoHash
def +(x); x; end
end
Adding that method will make both of these work:
# Numbers:
a = AutoHash.new
5.times { a[:sum] += 10 }
a[:sum] #=> 50
# Strings:
a = AutoHash.new
5.times { a[:sum] += 'a string ' }
a[:sum] #=> "a string a string a string a string a string "
And by the way, here is a cleaner version of your code:
class AutoHash < Hash
def initialize(args={})
super
#update, #update_index = args[:update], args[:update_key]
end
def [](k)
if has_key? k
super(k)
else
AutoHash.new :update => self, :update_key => k
end
end
def []=(k, v)
#update[#update_index] = self if #update and #update_index
super
end
def +(x); x; end
def self.few(n)
Array.new(n) { AutoHash.new }
end
end
:)

Answer 2

What I think you want is this:
hash = Hash.new { |h, k| h[k] = 0 }
hash['foo'] += 3
# => 3
That will return 3, then 6, etc. without an error, because the the new value is default assigned 0.

Answer 3

require 'xkeys' # on rubygems.org
a = {}.extend XKeys::Hash
a[:a, :b] = 1
p a[:c] # => nil (key :c has not been created)
p a # => { :a => { :b => 1 } }
a.clear
5.times { a[:sum, :else => 0] += 10 }
p a # => { :sum => 50 }