From: Glenn Jackman <glennj@...>
Date: 2010-03-26T00:30:08+09:00
Subject: Re: problem sorting

At 2010-03-25 10:58AM, "Augusto Garcia" wrote:
>  I am trying to sort an array using a block but somehow I am not seeing
>  what I am want. First I want to sort the total, then break the tie on
>  gold goldcount, silvercount and finally on bronzcount
>  
>  Here is my code. what am I missing? please help
>  
>    # compare and order by totals
>          result = b[:total] <=> a[:total]
>          # if tied, break the number of gold medals
>          result != 0 ? result : b[:goldcount] <=> a[:goldcount]
>          result != 0 ? result : b[:silvercount] <=> a[:silvercount]
>          result != 0 ? result : b[:bronzcount] <=> a[:bronzcount]
>          result != 0 ? result : b[:country] <=> a[:country]

You're not assigning the tiebreaker back to the 'result' variable

    # compare

        result = b[:total] <=> a[:total] ||
                 b[:goldcount] <=> a[:goldcount] ||
                 b[:silvercount] <=> a[:silvercount] ||
                 b[:bronzcount] <=> a[:bronzcount] ||
                 b[:country] <=> a[:country]

It might be clearer to use sort_by instead of sort

    sorted = array.sort_by do |h| 
      [ h[:total],h[:goldcount],h[:silvercount],h[:bronzecount],h[:country] ]
    end

-- 
Glenn Jackman
    Write a wise saying and your name will live forever. -- Anonymous