From: Josh Cheek <josh.cheek@...>
Date: 2010-04-08T09:56:06+09:00
Subject: Re: First post

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On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 6:02 PM, Alexander Santoro <
alexandersantoro@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello I am new to Ruby and programming.  I hate to just dump code here
> so if you don't feel like responding I understand.  I am trying to
> import two text files, one containing names and one containing text.
> I did this using :
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> def namez
>               $fbNamez = []
>               nf = File.open("names.txt", "r")
>               nf.each_line { |line| $fbNamez.push line }
>               nf.close
>               puts $fbNamez
>               end
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> def threadz
>               $fbThreadz = []
>               tf = File.open("thread.txt", "r")
>               tf.each_line { |line| $fbThreadz.push line}
>               tf.close
>               puts $fbThreadz
>               end
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

Variables that begin with $ are global variables. Using globals is frowned
upon, because it makes the flow of control very difficult to follow. A
better approach would be to use local variables, and have the function
return the results (by default, the function will always return whatever the
last line evaluates to)

The file open and close thing is also not the best way to do this, a better
approach would be to open the file and pass it a block, then let it pass
back the file variable. This will ensure that the file gets closed
correctly, and I think makes the code quite a bit cleaner.

The indentation conventions you've used aren't standard for Ruby. They won't
break anything, but people are likely to be irritated by it. Usually, try to
indent two spaces.

Ruby naming conventions have local variables as snake_case rather than
camelCase, so fbThreadz should be fb_threadz

So you might rewrite like this.
def namez
  fb_namez = Array.new
  File.open( "names.txt", "r" ) do |nf|
    nf.each_line { |line| fb_namez.push line }
  end
  puts fb_namez
  fb_namez
end

But, there is fortunately an even easier way than this. You can use the
readlines method to pull out all the lines

def namez
  fb_namez = File.readlines("names.txt")
  puts fb_namez
  fb_namez
end

fb_namez at the end there just returns our results.
But really, this function shouldn't be printing these names out, that is a
very specific job that makes the method useless to anyone else who wants to
get a list of names but not print them. Whoever calls this method should be
the one printing the names. Which means we have no need for this fb_namez
variable at all. So then we can just do

def namez
  File.readlines "names.txt"
end

puts namez


I know this cannot be the best way to do this but it was all I muster.
>  The goal was to iterate through the array of names and extrapolate
> data relative to the thread.txt file.  Example: The names.txt file
> reads as so:
>
> John Doe
> Jane Doe
> Donald Duck
> Donald Notreal
> Mike Mikes
>
>
>
> The threadz.txt reads as so:
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> John Doe March 9 at 4:09pm Reply
> ok so who likes steph more than Sonia..... cuz i do
>
> Jane Doe March 9 at 4:13pm Reply
> hahahahah what aaaan asshole
>
> John Doe March 9 at 4:18pm Reply
> hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa
>
> Donald Duck March 9 at 4:50pm Reply
> seriously, lets take a vote
>
> all in favor say I
>
> Donald Notreal March 9 at 4:51pm Reply
> aye
>
> Mike Mikes March 9 at 4:52pm Reply
> aye.. dont give a shit really
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
Unfortunately I think you are going to run into issues when you go to
delimit your file. How do you know where one post ends and the next begins?
What if someone makes a post that quotes someone else? For example, what if
John Doe quotes Jane doe and his post looks like this

"I can't believe Jane said:

Jane Doe March 9 at 4:13pm Reply
hahahahah what aaaan asshole"

If you are creating this file, then I think you should put in specific
delimiters, so that you can easily tell when a new post starts.


Also, just so you know, calling your array Threadz is kind of confusing,
because when someone reads something like
text = $fbThreadz.join
They are probably going to think you are Ruby's Thread class,
http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Thread.html#M000462

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