Re: My Thought on the "Pickaxe book" (from a Ruby novice)

I definitely agree that you could probably stumble along by learning
just one way but you'll be left in the wilderness looking at someone
else's code. At least that's how I feel right now.

Ruby's versatility is like English. You can speak English with a very
heavy Spanish accent or German accent and even your grammar could be
heavily influenced but it will still be valid English nonetheless. To
stretch the metaphor further two non-native English speakers coming
from different languages usually have trouble understanding each
other's English.

I still wish there were more books out there on Ruby and Rails.
That'll will change drastically in 2006. I'm sure our more
experienced rubyists would benefit from a Ruby Pocket Reference
(actually available in Japanese from Oreilly).

How long did it take most of you to feel comfortable enough in Ruby to
understand other people's code as well?



On 1/20/06, Alexandru Popescu <the.mindstorm.mailinglist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> #: ara.t.howard@xxxxxxxx changed the world a bit at a time by saying (astral date: 1/19/2006 9:10 PM) :#
> > On Fri, 20 Jan 2006, Mark Volkmann wrote:
> >
> >> I guess that's the part I don't get. In the majority the cases, I don't see
> >> how choosing a particular synonym better expresses the intention.
> >>
> >> For example, in the Hash class, has_key? = include? = key? = member? When I
> >> see include? and member? it's not immediately obvious to me whether they
> >> test whether a given object is present as a key or a value. has_key? and
> >> key? are more clear and I don't see a benefit to having both of them.
> >
> > i couldn't disagree more. names, for variables or methods, are of utmost
> > importance to better expresses intention:
> >
> > puts 'this makes sense even without knowing what set is!' if set.member? 42
> >
> >
> > puts 'this is requires a comment' if s.has_key? 42
> >
>
> With all due respect, I would say these tricks are used _after_ you master the API.
> The discussion (as far as i got it) was about leaning it (so _before_ mastering the API). And having
> 6 methods with different names is kind of confusing while learning. You are loosing a lot of time
> trying to identify if there are any differences between them.
>
> I agree with you that after mastering the API these may become handy.
>
> cheers,
> ./alex
> --
> .w( the_mindstorm )p.
>
> ps: I guess this is pretty much in the idea of a series of blog posts that happen lately about human
> interfaces vs good APIs vs ... (iirc the start was somewhere on Martin Fowler's blog)
>
>
>
>
> >> That may be the best example. Here are some others.
> >>
> >> Enumerable:
> >> collect = map
> >> entries = to_a
> >> detect = find
> >> member? = include?
> >> find_all = select
> >
> >
> > p signals.detect{|sig| sig.freq > 42}
> >
> > p list.find{|x| x.freq > 42}
> >
> >> Hash:
> >> store = []=
> >> merge! = update
> >> has_value? = value?
> >>
> >> Integer:
> >> next = succ
> >>
> >> IO:
> >> pos = tell
> >>
> >> Kernel:
> >> fail = raise
> >> format = sprintf
> >>
> >> String
> >> next = succ
> >> next! = succ!
> >>
> >> Thread
> >> fork = start
> >> exit = kill = terminate
> >
> > for many synonyms consider duck typing usage as well - it's not only about
> > making sense when reading:
> >
> > if i have a lib that does this
> >
> > exit if bug
> >
> > then i can use it like this
> >
> > require 'lib'
> >
> > or like this
> >
> > successfully_loaded = Thread::new {
> > begin
> > require 'lib'
> > true
> > rescue SystemExit
> > nil
> > end
> > }.value
> >
> > puts "Thread#exit called in lieu of Kernel#exit - whew" unless successfully_loaded
> >
> >
> > the interface polymorism gained by synonyms is often handy.
> >
> > if i design a table class an initially design it around a hash and use
> >
> > table.store key, value
> >
> > in my code, but later decide i need to store multiple values under one key and
> > switch to a database backend i can simply have a store method that looks like
> >
> > def store key, *values
> > ...
> > end
> >
> > and then start using
> >
> > table.store key, v0, v1, v2
> >
> > without changing the other code. if i'd used
> >
> > table[key] = value
> >
> > all over the plase initially i'd have a strange mixture of methods and would
> > require a special [] method for storing one value, which would quickly become
> > code smell. in this case the abstract idea of 'storing' something under a key
> > was more appropriate to my design in the first place so using this interface
> > saved me grief later.
> >
> > synonyms exist elsewhere for clarity in ruby too
> >
> > unless == if not
> >
> > thankfully.
> >
> > regards.
> >
> > -a
>
>
>


.

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