From: "Simon Kröger" <SimonKroeger@...>
Date: 2005-12-03T09:04:34+09:00
Subject: Re: Optimizing for Newbies

This isn't meant as 'the' solution of your problem,
its just a bit more like it would look like if i had
to write the same program (i was bored, obviously):

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require 'enumerator'

$stdout.sync = true
system("clear")

#Roll 2 10-sided die and subtract 2nd from 1st to determine pair total
def rollAttributePair
   rolls = Array.new(2){rand(10)}
   return 0 if rolls.any?{|r|r.zero?}
   rolls[0] - rolls[1]
end

#Obtain user allocation of scores and validate against AM rules
def getScore(total,attr)
   loop do
     print "    Enter score for " + attr + ": "
     userInput = gets.chomp.strip.to_i
     if (userInput < 0) && (total > 0)
       puts "      You rolled positively; no negatives for this pair."
     elsif (userInput > 0) && (total < 0)
       puts "      You rolled negatively; no positives for this pair."
     elsif userInput > 4
       puts "      Rolled scores cannot be higher than 4."
     elsif userInput < -4
       puts "      Rolled scores cannot be lower than 4."
     else
       return userInput
     end
   end
end

Attribute = Struct.new(:long, :short)
long = %w(Intelligence Perception Strength Stamina Presence 
Communication Dexterity Quickness)
short = %w(Int Per Str Sta Pre Com Dex Qik)
attributes = long.zip(short).map{|a| Attribute.new *a}

#Init Hash to hold name/value pairs for character Attributes
charAttributes = Hash.new(0)

attributes.each_slice(2) do |attr|
   puts "Now rolling for the #{attr[0].long} and #{attr[1].long} pair..."
   total = rollAttributePair
   if total == 0
     puts "  You rolled a zero for this pair. Both #{attr[0].short} and 
#{attr[1].short} will be set to zero."
     attr.each{|a| charAttributes[a] = 0}
   else
     puts "  You rolled a #{total} for this pair."
     if total > 0
       puts "  Please choose scores which are >= 0, <= 4, and which add 
up to #{total}."
     else
       puts "  Please, choose scores which are <= 0, >= -4, and which 
add up to #{total}."
     end

     loop do
       attr.each{|a| charAttributes[a] = getScore(total, a.short)}
       break if (charAttributes[attr[0]] + charAttributes[attr[1]]) == total
       puts "  Your scores add up to more than #{total}. Please try again."
     end
   end
   puts
end

#Print charAttributes
attributes.each{|attr| puts attr.long + ": #{charAttributes[attr]}"}

#Pause for user input before exit
print "\nPress Enter to exit..."
gets
---------------------------------------------------------------------

maybe it's helpfull, maybe not...

cheers

Simon