From: Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale@...>
Date: 2007-10-26T02:03:17+09:00
Subject: Re: Array of Pairs data structure?

On 10/25/07, Greg Willits <lists@gregwillits.ws> wrote:
> OK, nevermind, I think I found enough functionality to get me by.
>
> An array of arrays is sortable (an array of hashes is not).
>
> And, array.assoc provides a lookup of a specific "pair"
>
> y = [['bbb','beta'], ['ggg','gamma'], ['aaa','alpha']]
>
> puts y.assoc('ggg')  # will return ['ggg', 'gamma]
>
> puts y.sort # actually works. Weeee.

You might also consider using a hash, for access and produce the array
when needed to sort.  Consider:

h = {"color" => "red", "shape" => "trapezoid", "size" => "small" }

h.to_a      # => [["size", "small"], ["shape", "trapezoid"], ["color", "red"]]

h.to_a.sort # => [["color", "red"], ["shape", "trapezoid"], ["size", "small"]]

-- 
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/