From: sawadatsuyoshi@...
Date: 2014-03-03T11:17:13+00:00
Subject: [ruby-core:61254] [ruby-trunk - Feature #9587] Integer#times with optional starting value

Issue #9587 has been updated by Tsuyoshi Sawada.


Marc-Andre Lafortune wrote:
> How exactly would it be easier than `1.upto(6)`?

When the start value is `1`, the argument `6` of `upto` coincidentally matches what would be the receiver of `times`, and you may not see the benifit, but when it is some other value such as `5`, then you would need to calculate that in mind:

    5.upto(11) # Need to calculate 11 (= 5 + 6)
    6.times(5) # This is easier

A use case maybe when you are writing labels for pagination buttons. You know the start value, say 17, and you want to display ten next pages. Then,

    10.times(17){|i| ...}

would give i = 17, 18, ..., 26. Doing this with `upto` or addition to the index within a `times` block may be a cause of careless bugs.

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Feature #9587: Integer#times with optional starting value
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/9587#change-45594

* Author: Tsuyoshi Sawada
* Status: Open
* Priority: Normal
* Assignee: 
* Category: 
* Target version: 
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Just like `Enumerator#with_index` takes an optional argument that specifies the initial value of the index, I would like to request that `Integer#times` take an optional argument that specifies the initial value. The usefulness of it is similar to that of `with_index` taking an argument. We sometimes want to repeat tasks a given number of times, and want to use an index not necessarily starting from `0`.

    6.times(1){|i| puts "Chapter #{i}"}

should give

    Chapter 1
    Chapter 2
    Chapter 3
    Chapter 4
    Chapter 5
    Chapter 6

with the return value `6`. We can do it with `1.upto(6)`, or with `#{i + 1}` within the block, but giving the initial value to `times` is much easier.



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