From: Alexandru Popescu <the.mindstorm.mailinglist@...>
Date: 2006-07-16T09:30:47+09:00
Subject: Re: salt = [Array.new(6){rand(256).chr}.join].pack("m").chomp

To my understanding: creates
Array.new(6){rand(256).chr} => array of 6 random chars
array.join => string of 6 chars
[array.join] => array with 1 string of length 6
newarray.pack("m") => encode base64

and the last chomp assures that the last generated char is not a newline.

hth (even if I am not completely sure about it, and I would like to
hear from more experienced guys).

./alex
--
.w( the_mindstorm )p.



On 7/16/06, Alexandre Hudelot <alexandre.hudelot@gmail.com> wrote:
> This is a line taken from the "authentification" recipe in the 'Rails
> Recipes' book.
> I can see that it generates a string of random characters but I am
> unsure of all that's going on here.
>
> The strings that are generated have 8 characters, how come when the
> array is initialized with the arg '6' ?
>
> What exactly is .join doing here?
>
> What does .pack("m") do?
>
> And why the .chomp? I thought that was a func to remove newline
> characters.
>
> Thanks in advance for the help.
>
> -Alex
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
>