From: Derek O'Connell <doc@...9.co.uk>
Date: 2005-09-12T20:11:32+09:00
Subject: Stupid Newb Question

For background only (I think my question is simple): I'm new to ruby, 
read the book etc and now trying my first conversion. I'm doing this in 
two stages since I'm still getting familiar with Ruby syntax. First stage 
is to take my existing PureBasic code (think C without any of the junk) 
and try to implement the Ruby equivalent line-for-line. Second stage I'll 
completely redesign it in true Ruby fashion. My PB program is an 
automated downloader where I supply a list of URL's and the "Download 
Manager" (DLM) part handles "Requests" by creating a thread for each one. 
The DLM itself is a thread so I can schedule the downloads say every 10 
mins. Now my question...

So far I have created classes for the DLM and Requests. To track the 
states of both I use constants declared (in PB), for example as...

#DLM_MS_INACTIVE = 0
#DLM_MS_RUNNING  = 1
#DLM_MS_PAUSED   = 2

Another way, used in other parts of my code, is PB's enums...

Enumeration
  #DLM_MS_INACTIVE
  #DLM_MS_RUNNING
  #DLM_MS_PAUSED
EndEnumeration

....which does the same thing (in this case I don't care about the actual 
values).

So what is the nearest Ruby equivalent? I'd want it class-specific so I 
don't need the DLM_MS_ part and where I don't care about the actual value 
I guess I'd use symbols? Any/all tips appreciated!

PS: I already know that when I do a proper redesign I'll probably use 
queues to represent the states of individual requests. My problem of how 
best to represent/implement constants/enums extends to other code I want 
to convert.