From: Consultant1guru@...
Date: 2008-02-27T15:19:58+09:00
Subject: Re: Convert numbers to "non-ascii" strings

On Feb 26, 8:46 am, Dave M <dmil...@tecolote.net> wrote:
> Hello all
>
> I would like to convert integers to strings in a way that I haven't come
> across in the Ruby functions I have looked at.  I would like the string
> to be exactly what the integer would be if I read it in from a binary file.
>
> In other words, the integer 0x61626364 would be the string "abcd" after
> the conversion.  I can write code to do it, but I think there is
> probably a better way than the approach I have come up with.
>
> This works but seems very brute force to me:
>
> # assumes 32 bit numbers.
> class Bignum
>      def to_ls
>          i = self
>          s = ""
>          4.times { s.concat(i & 0xff); i >>= 8}
>          return s.reverse
>      end
> end
>
> puts 0x61626364.to_ls
> abcd
>
> Also, it seems that I need this for both Bignum and Fixnum to cover the
> entire 32 bit number range.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave M

Dave --

I'm afraid that you may have selected the incorrect language for the
task at hand.  Your question implies that you are doing some complex
parsing or homogenization, and Ruby, while a nice scripting language
for small tasks, is simply not a good choice for that application.  If
you want to do simple web development or a little scraping, Ruby is
good for that, but that's about the extent of what it can really
handle well.

I suggest you look at Perl or TCL for a serious scripting language,
Java for a robust programming language, and Visual Basic if you want
an ultra-fast development environment.  These are tools that can
handle the task you describe in a sensible way.

I am not saying that you should give up Ruby.  Ruby is great for
learning some of the object-oriented concepts that while interesting,
may not be practical for some tasks in the real world.

Hope that helps

Cheers

G