From: Rob Biedenharn <Rob@...>
Date: 2010-01-23T00:59:02+09:00
Subject: Re: Argh?! :) kEND, $end and kELSE in a simple program


On Jan 22, 2010, at 10:33 AM, Jet Koten wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm completely new to programming and am learning using Ruby.
>
> I'm trying to get this program working using only these basic commands
> that are in my program:
>
> puts 'Say something to the virtual hard-of-hearing Grandpa:'
> while true
>  said=gets.chomp
>  year = (1930+rand(51))
>  counter=0
>  if said=='GOODBYE'
>  counter+=1
>    if counter==3
>      break
>    end
>  end
>  elsif said !=said.upcase
>    puts 'HUH?! SAY IT LOUDER!'
>    counter-=1
>  end
>  else
>    puts 'NO, NOT SINCE '+year.to_s+'!'
>    counter-=1
>  end
> end

> I'm really stuck about getting 'him' to break after the 3 GOODBYEs  
> in a
> row, I've written the code the best I can and now all I get are  
> various
> combinations of kEND, $end and kELSE. I'm guessing it's some kind of
> scope issue but I don't know enough to know what I don't know... you
> know? :)


And to explain the error from this code:

-:12: syntax error, unexpected kELSIF, expecting kEND
   elsif said !=said.upcase
        ^
-:16: syntax error, unexpected kELSE, expecting $end

In more human terms (don't worry, soon you'll only see the redhead):

"I found a problem on line 12 when I saw 'elsif' because I was  
expecting something like 'end' because I was inside a 'while' block at  
the time. Here's the point on line 12 that I was sure I had a problem.

Oh, and then on line 16 I found an 'elsif', but I just thought the  
file would be finished by now."

-Rob

Rob Biedenharn		http://agileconsultingllc.com
Rob@AgileConsultingLLC.com