From: simonh <simonharrison@...>
Date: 2006-07-11T02:40:07+09:00
Subject: Real newbie question about methods

Hi all. I'm trying to learn ruby using about 5 books(!) but keep
struggling over basic things that are obvious to you guys but don't
seem to be explained in a way my brain understands. Ruby is my first
programming language, by the way. Here is first one.

I have written this script (which works fine):-
---------------------------------------------
target = 18..30
print 'please enter your age: '
age = gets.chomp.to_i
if age < 18
  puts 'sorry, too young.'
elsif target === age
  puts 'have a great holiday.'
elsif age > 31
  puts 'sorry, too old.'
end
gets
---------------------------------------------

What I want to do is put this in a method:-
------------------------------------------------
def check_age(age)
  print "Please enter your age: "
  age = gets.chomp.to_i
  eligible = 18..30

  if age < 18
    print "Sorry, too young."
  elsif eligible === age
    print "Have a great holiday!"
  else
    print "Input not understood."
  check_age(age) # trying recursion here
  end
check_age()
end
------------------------------------------------

But it doesn't work. How do I get the value entered by the user into
the method parameter?

Many thanks