From: Robert Klemme <bob.news@...>
Date: 2004-09-06T02:00:12+09:00
Subject: Re: Hashes and ordering


"Hal Fulton" <hal9000@hypermetrics.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
news:413A2C57.1090101@hypermetrics.com...
> Oops... thought you sent that one just to me. Got the cc first.
>
> I'll reply to the list also:
>
>
> Ara.T.Howard@noaa.gov wrote:
>
> >   require 'arrayfields'
>
> Hi, Ara... yes, I know about arrayfields and have played with it.
> I like it.
>
> However, I really like the "=>" notation, and I want something
> fairly fundamental to the language.
>
> > i think the literal syntax is pretty clear:
>
> It's clear, yes, but it's not convenient (to me).
> I really prefer {x=>y} or the new {x:y}.

Well, at least you can do

def SortedMap(h)
  # any transformation of a Hash that
  # does not depend on insertion order
  # for example
  h.sort
end

foo = SortedMap( "foo" => "bar", "two" => 2 )
foo.each {|k,v| print "key=", k, " value=", v, "\n" }

def InsertionOrder(*words)
  words = words.shift if words.size == 1 && Array === words[0]
  map = []
  until words.empty?
    map << [words.shift, words.shift]
  end
  map
end

bar = InsertionOrder %w{foo bar 1 2}
bar.each {|k,v| print "key=", k, " value=", v, "\n" }

Those method names might not be the best, but you get the picture.

IMHO that covers already some cases.

    robert