From: mathew <meta@...>
Date: 2005-12-22T07:17:49+09:00
Subject: Re: The "ruby way" to break apart a name?

Jeff Cohen wrote:
> Assume for simplicity that the the first name is the text up to the 
> first space, and the last name is the text after the last space.
[...]
> But something about split_name still feels a bit "wrong",

Well, I think the bigger issue is that your assumptions are wrong. :-)

In some countries, the surname is written first, then the 'first' name. 
Japan is an example. Some Japanese write their names in reverse when 
writing them transliterated to English, and some don't. (...which makes 
me wonder which is the case for Matz...)

Also, the number of words in the full name can vary between 1 and a 
fairly large integer. (I knew a guy with 6.)  The number of name words 
required to actually route mail to a unique person can vary between 1 
and (at least) 3, and compound names are not always hyphenated. Then 
there are things like "Jr", and salutations that go after the name 
rather than in front.

There are quite a few postings in comp.risks about this kind of thing. 
In general it's very hard to do it right, and if (for example) you want 
to produce a "Dear <salutation goes here>" header for a letter, it's 
best to store the salutation as a separate field, rather than try to 
guess what it might be from the name.

Of course, if you're working with a badly structured database someone 
else has given you, you may not have the choice...


mathew
-- 
      <URL:http://www.pobox.com/~meta/>
My parents went to the lost kingdom of Hyrule
     and all I got was this lousy triforce.