From: dblack@...
Date: 2007-03-01T12:23:52+09:00
Subject: Re: Stepping out on a Limb - some very ugly code

Hi --

On Thu, 1 Mar 2007, Samantha wrote:

> After taking several suggestions, I've come up with 91 lines of code
> (including blank lines because I like organizing things).
>
> I have a few issues in certain areas of the code...
>
> I'll post all 91 lines (including lines intentionally left blank), and
> explain what I'm having go wrong... I'm just not getting it, but maybe I
> don't quite understand certain things... (probably, not maybe ;)  (And
> please excuse the rude prompts - I'm not really this rude, nor would I write
> such a rude program for deployment into the world.)
>
> #ResumeBuilder.rb
>
> #This is the section that defines a prompt.
> def prompt(string)
> puts(string)
> gets.chomp
> end
>
> #This section defines a prompt that requires a yes or no answer.
> def boolean_prompt(string)
> prompt("#{string} (yes/no)").downcase == "yes"
> end
>
> #Main program logic for User Identity
> puts("Welcome to Resume Builder v.1")
>
> first_name = prompt("Please enter your first name: ").capitalize!
> last_name = prompt("Please enter your last name: ").capitalize!
>
> #This verifies that the user is who they said they were.
> correct = boolean_prompt("So, your name is #{first_name} #{last_name}?")
> if correct
> puts("Great! Let's get started, #{first_name}!")
> else
> puts("Please come back when you know who you are.")
> exit 1
> end
>
> ------------When I get to this point, if I typed in the answers to the
> prompts with the first letter capitalized (ie Samantha for the first name),
> when the program verifies what I typed whatever values it is verifying, as
> blank...

That's because capitalize!, like a lot of bang methods, returns nil if
no change has occurred in the receiver.  So David.capitalize! is nil.

> puts("Your skills are as follows:\n")
> tech_skills.each do |skill|
> puts skill
> end

It's much easier than that:

   puts tech_skills

:-)

> #This section gathers experience from the user.
> company1 = Hash.new
> ["Company Name","Company City","Company State","Start Date","End
> Date","Position Held","Job Duties"].each do |input|
> puts("Please enter your #{input}: ")
> company1 = gets.chomp

That's wrong; it should be:

   company1[input] = gets.chomp

since you want to set the relevant hash key.  Also, make sure that
there's no newline between "End" and "Date", as that will cause
company1["End Date"] to be nil (as opposed to company1["End \nDate"]).

> correct = boolean_prompt("You worked at " + company1["Company Name"] + " as
> a " + company1["Position Held"] + " from " + company1["Start Date"] + "
> until " + company1["End Date"] + " and your job description was as follows:
> \n" + company1["Job Duties"] + "\n" + company1["Company Name"] + " was
> located in " + company1["Company City"] + ", " + company1["Company State"] +
> "Is this correct? ")

Consider a here-document:

prompt = <<EOM
You worked at #{company1["Company Name"]} as a ... 
(etc.)
EOM

It will look more like the eventual output.


David

-- 
Q. What is THE Ruby book for Rails developers?
A. RUBY FOR RAILS by David A. Black (http://www.manning.com/black)
    (See what readers are saying!  http://www.rubypal.com/r4rrevs.pdf)
Q. Where can I get Ruby/Rails on-site training, consulting, coaching?
A. Ruby Power and Light, LLC (http://www.rubypal.com)