From: Damien Joly <do_joly@...>
Date: 2002-03-12T06:34:25+09:00
Subject: Re: painfully newbie question

Thanks to everyone for replying so quickly.  I thought
I'd post the consensus answer so that other newbies
might be able to avoid my mistake.   It seems that
what I've done is this:

  population[0]---\__
  population[1]--\   \ 
  population[2]   -----> Invdividual.new()
  population[3]--/ __/
  population[4]---/


When this should work:

  population = []
  5.times { population << Individual.new(1,0) }


Alternatively, I could overload "array" using:

class Array
    alias_method :old_init, :initialize
    def initialize(num = 0, val = nil, &proc)
      if block_given?
	num.times {|i| self.push (yield i)}
      else
	old_init(num, val)
      end
    end
  end

In order to allow:

population = Array.new(5) {Individual.new(1,0)}


Thanks again,

Damien




--- Damien Joly <do_joly@yahoo.ca> wrote:
> Last week I posted a question about using Ruby in
> population ecology simulation, and I am very
> grateful
> for the replies I got.  It seems Ruby is exactly
> what
> I am looking for.
> 
> Of course, I have my first question/conundrum, and I
> hope it isn't too painful for experienced Ruby/OO
> programmers.
> 
> I am trying to simulate "death" in an array of
> objects
> ("Individuals") by tossing a "coin".  However, for
> some reason, I get results I am not expecting.  Here
> is my code:
> 
> #Start
> 
> class Individual
>   attr_writer :alive, :mother
> def initialize(alive = 1,mother = 0)
>   @alive = alive
>   @mother = mother
> end
> 
> def to_s
> "Alive: #{@alive} Pregnant: #{@mother} \n"
> end
> 
> def survival
>   if rand<0.5
>     @alive = 0
>   else
>     @alive = 1
>   end
> end
> 
> end
> 
> 
> population = Array.new(5,Individual.new(1,0))
> puts "Before random death trials: \n"
> puts population.to_s
> 
> puts "During random death trials: \n"
> 
> for i in 0..(population.length-1)
>   population[i].survival
>  puts population[i].to_s
> end
> 
> puts "After random death trials: \n"
> 
> puts population.to_s   
> 
> # End
> 
> The output I get is:
> 
> Before random death trials:
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> During random death trials:
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> After random death trials:
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> 
> When I would expect to get:
> 
> Before random death trials:
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> During random death trials:
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> After random death trials:
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 1 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> Alive: 0 Pregnant: 0
> 
> The value in "Alive" seem to be copied from the last
> iteration into the array population once the for
> loop
> is complete. 
> 
> I hope this question isn't too inane for the list,
> but
> I am stumped and would appreciate any insight.
> 
> Thank you in advance,
> 
> Damien 
> 
> 
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