From: Daniel Finnie <danfinnie@...>
Date: 2007-01-15T07:42:16+09:00
Subject: Re: Number Spiral (#109)

I think the standard idiom is to use the min/max functions of an array:

a = 5
b = 10
[a, b].max #=> 10

You can also give max a block, similar to sort:

a = "Hello"
b = "Hi"
[a, b].max {|x, y| x.length <=> y.length}

Or you can write a method so it works more like sort_by (the interface, 
not the implementation):

class Array
    def max_by &blk
      max {|a, b| blk.call(a) <=> blk.call(b)}
    end
end

a = "Hello"
b = "Hi"
[a, b].max {|x| x.length}

And then, in Ruby 1.9, you should be able to do this (using max_by from 
above):

a = "Hello"
b = "Hi"
[a, b].max(&:length) # Not sure if the syntax is 100%

And if you still want your max() function:

def min(*args)
   args.min
end

Everything also applies to minimums using the min function.

Dan

Tom Ayerst wrote:
> Sorry for my beginners ruby (are there some standard min(x,y)/max(x,y,) 
> functions?