From: Yannick Grams <yannick_grams@...>
Date: 2007-03-03T20:18:38+09:00
Subject: Re: Smart Way Thinking (was: Re: File Question)

Well, I'm not interested in programming seriously. I just do it as a hobby. 
But thanks again. Also, one quick (hopefully last) quick question:

I attempted the first part of the code that you gave me, the CHARACTERS 
array.

CHARBLOCK = {
	?a = [
		"...@@@....",
		".@@@@@@@..",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@@@@@@@.",
		"@@@@@@@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@."
	],
	?b = [
		"...@@@@@@.",
		".@@@@@@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@..",
		"@@@@@@@...",
		"@@@@@@@@..",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@@@@@@..",
		"@@@@@@...."
	],
	?c = [
		"...@@@@@@.",
		".@@@@@@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@.......",
		"@@@.......",
		"@@@.......",
		"@@@.......",
		"@@@.......",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@...@@@.",
		"@@@@@@@@..",
		"@@@@@@...."
	],
                #and so on and so forth
}

However, I'm getting errors such as:
rb:2 odd number list for Hash ?a = [
rb:2 syntax error, unexpected "=", expecting "')"
rb:20 syntax error, unexpected ",", expecting $end

I'm not sure what I've done wrong here. If you could help me out one last 
time, then I'd be very grateful. Thanks in advance.
>From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com>
>Reply-To: ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org
>To: ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org (ruby-talk ML)
>Subject: Smart Way Thinking (was: Re: File Question)
>Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 20:10:05 +0900
>
>On 03.03.2007 11:41, Yannick Grams wrote:
>>Thankyou very much for the helpful hints. A quick question: how long does 
>>it take until one is able to think of smart ways around programming? I've 
>>been doing this for about a year, and I have improved greatly, but not as 
>>much as I should like.
>
>Um, that's a much more difficult question than the other one. :-)  The 
>general answer to this is probably (as often) "it depends".  For me it 
>certainly took a degree in computer science plus several years software 
>development and probably also several programming languages.  Others might 
>get the hang of it faster or slower - that probably depends on yourself and 
>your occupation (doing software development full time certainly helps) and 
>what other factors you can think of.
>
>Studying CR certainly helps as this will provide you with some basic 
>concepts and basic understanding (for example, estimating algorithmic 
>complexity) but that brings you only half there.  I do not know a proper 
>replacement for experience, as you can learn all the principles in theory 
>but you will be able to apply them properly only with experience.  Also, 
>there is a ton of other issues in practice that the university did not 
>teach us at the time I was attending.
>
>The single most important concept in software engineering is IMHO 
>abstraction.  By abstraction I mean the way how you distribute 
>functionality across a system (this holds true for large as well small 
>pieces of software).  Create artifacts (classes, methods, functions) that 
>do one thing properly.  The hard bit is often to determine what this "one 
>thing" is. :-)
>
>Having said that, you should probably be a bit more patient. :-)
>
>Kind regards
>
>	robert
>

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