From: Josh Cheek <josh.cheek@...>
Date: 2009-09-09T16:34:50+09:00
Subject: Re: Tutorial challenge program help

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On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:13 PM, Chris Logan <t-logan3@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hello all im really new to ruby as in a few days and getting into it. i
> was following a tutorial found on
> http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/?Chapter=00 in later chapters it made a
> challenge to write a program involving a looping a deaf grandma i
> started it and have it for the most part working buts its doing a few
> things that i dont fully understand im guessing these are bugs O.o?
>
>  reply = ' '
>  replytt = ' '
> puts 'Ahh theres my grandson'
>  while replytt != 'BYE'
>  while reply != 'BYE'
>    reply = gets.chomp
>  if reply == reply.upcase
>    puts 'No not since 19' + (rand(5)).to_s + (rand(10)).to_s + '!'
> reply = gets.chomp
>  else
>    puts 'WHAT\'S THAT SONNY SPEAK UP!'
>    reply = gets.chomp
> end
> end
>  if reply == 'BYE'
>    puts 'Do you really have to go?'
>    replyt = gets.chomp
>    reply = replyt
>  if replyt == 'BYE'
>    puts 'Don\'t you wanna hear about the time I met your granda?'
>    replytt = gets.chomp
>    replyt = replytt
>    reply = replyt
>  else
>    puts 'WHAT\'S THAT SONNY SPEAK UP!'
>    replyt = replytt
>    reply = replyt
>    reply = gets.chomp
> end
> end
> end
> puts 'Come back and visit your old granny again soon.'
> puts 'Ill tell you the time I...'
> puts 'zzzz...'
>
> a few things first off since i cannot seem to find it on google i dont
> know how to make rand pop out anything thats not 0- a number for
> instance i wanted it to be like the tutorial said and make it 1930- 1950
> for the year the second is during if reply == reply.upcase it gives me a
> blank line i have to hit enter again before it gives the No not since
> [year] also during the second BYE if replyt == 'BYE' even if i put an
> answer that isnt in caps lock it gives it me a respons as if it was.
> thats all i can remeber right now also any tips on just making the whole
> thing smoother would be appreciated. I'm quite proud of this as its my
> first real project i did.
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
>
Hi, Chris, I think that extracting pieces of functionality out into methods
would make your program a lot simpler. I know it can be frustrating to work
for 6 hours on a project like this, so let me show you how I would approach
the problem. I put a lot of comments in, because I don't know how much you
understand, forgive me if I stress things you are already well aware of.

# this method gets the input from the user
# it sets it into the instance variable @input
# we use an instance variable because it will continue
# to exist outside the method. You know it is an instance
# variable because it begins with an @ symbol. If it did not, it
# would be a local variable, and "die" after the method returned.
#
# the last line of a method is always returned, so in this case,
# we set the variable @input, and return it's value
# this is because the assignment operator, =, is itself a method
# which returns the value that was assigned.
def get_input
  print "Say to deaf grandma: "    #prompts the user for information
  @input = gets.chomp              #set @input, return it's value
end


# this function returns a year from 1930 - 1950
def get_year
  # we use double quotes, then embed the values we want within them
  # when we do it this way, the .to_s method is automatically called
  # on whatever the value happens to be.
  # so this is the same as "19" + (rand(21)+30).to_s
  "19#{rand(21)+30}" #variability of 21 years, offset by 30 years
end


# this is a little trickier, here we open up the String class
# and we add the method to it called shouted? This will then be
# available to any given string.
# We can access that string with the self variable
#
# So if the string is equal to itself in upcase, then it has been
# shouted, this value will be returned
# try it out with something like
#  p "did not shout".shouted?
#  p "DID SHOUT".shouted?
# when we put a question mark on the end of a function or method,
# it indicates that a boolean value will be returned. A boolean
# value is just true or false.
class String
  def shouted?
    self == self.upcase #returns true if the string is uppercase
  end
end


# now that we have made our functions and methods to help us, our
# program logic becomes much simpler, the entire program can be
# written like this
while get_input != "BYE"
  # remember, our instance variable @input
  # was set by the get_input method, it is the String that the user
  # submitted. Since it is a String, and we added the .shouted?
  # method to the String class, we can call that method on it
  if @input.shouted?
    puts "NO, NOT SINCE #{get_year}!" #embed the year in the string
  else
    puts "HUH?!  SPEAK UP, SONNY!"
  end
  puts   #a blank line to make it more legible
end

puts "BYE, SONNY!"  #grandma's last response

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