[ruby-core:65193] [ruby-trunk - Feature #10270] Hash#insert

Issue #10270 has been updated by Atlas Prime.


The name "insert" seems good to me because it implies a *new* entry and unable to change an *old* entry. But key-value pair must be thought of as an *entry* too for it to make sense (I guess I get that notion from Java http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/Map.Entry.html).

I did not know that merge took this block. That could be useful. But it's not quite the same because insert returns true/false if successful of not. It's utility is mostly as a short cut for

    if !h.key?(k)
      store(k,v)
      ...
    end

Instead one can do

    if h.insert(k,v)
      ...
    end

However, you make me think it might be useful too if it could take a hash and a block.

    def insert_merge(other, &block)
      other.each do |k, v|
        if key?(k)
          block.call(false, k, v)
        else
          store(k,v)
          block.call(true, k, v)
        end
      end
    end



----------------------------------------
Feature #10270: Hash#insert
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/10270#change-49031

* Author: Atlas Prime
* Status: Feedback
* Priority: Normal
* Assignee: 
* Category: core
* Target version: 
----------------------------------------
Hash doesn't appear to have a "safe" way to insert an entry that won't clobber another key if it is already there. So how about:

~~~
class Hash

  # Like Hash#store but only stores if the key isn't already
  # in the hash. Returns true if inserted, otherwise false.
  #
  def insert(name, value)
    if key?(name)
      false
    else
      store(name,value)
      true
    end
  end

end
~~~




-- 
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/