From: Martin DeMello <martindemello@...>
Date: 2010-10-07T05:25:00+09:00
Subject: Re: urgent help needed! unable to locate syntax errors

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 1:05 AM, Atul Dongargaonkar <datulravi@gmail.com> wrote:
> Please find the txt file for the ruby program attached.

Your code has a bunch of errors, all of which will need to be fixed.
First, if you try to run it you get the following warnings

slab.rb:148: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:156: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:143: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:251: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:244: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:237: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:230: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:223: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:216: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:208: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:201: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:193: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==
slab.rb:274: warning: found = in conditional, should be ==

In ruby, the equality test is ==, not =.  So if you say

  if (@input_support_type = 2)

you are actually *setting* the variable to 2, not comparing it to 2.
It should be

  if (@input_support_type == 2)

and likewise for all the other places.

Next, why are you doing this:

def analyse #determining if the slab is one-way or two-way and to
proceed accordingly

  if (@ly_lx <=2.0)
    two_way
  else
    one_way
  end

  def one_way

    def prompts3

Ruby doesn't support inner methods; defining a method inside a method
does not do what you think it is doing. I suspect that

(a) you forgot the "end" for "def analyse" (note where a good editor
would have caught that right away, due to the indentation not
returning to zero

and

(b) the "def prompts3" is an attempt to declare the variable before
using it. This is wrong; ruby doesn't need to declare variables, and
"def" is strictly a method definition keyword.

Fixing those and moving on, the code again breaks at:

@zx_neg = (ia_array[(@input_kx_nve)] - (@temp_xn *
(ia_array[(@input_kx_nve)] - ia_array[((@input_kx_nve).to_i-1)]))* @dx
           @zx_pos = (ia_array[(@input_kx_pve)] - (@temp_xp *
(ia_array[(@input_kx_pve)] - ia_array[((@input_kx_pve).to_i-1)]))* @dx
                      @zy_neg = (ia_array[(@input_ky_nve)] - (@temp_yn
* (ia_array[(@input_ky_nve)] - ia_array[((@input_ky_nve).to_i-1)]))*
@dy
                                 @zy_pos = (ia_array[(@input_ky_pve)]
- (@temp_yp * (ia_array[(@input_ky_pve)] -
ia_array[((@input_ky_pve).to_i-1)]))* @dy


                                            # To calculate the
required area of steel (sq.mm/m)

                                            @ast_x_neg =
((@mx_neg/(0.87 * fyk * @zx_neg)) < @as_min) ? @as_min :@mx_neg/(0.87
* fyk * @zx_neg)

You can see by the way the indentation is creeping right that you
haven't closed all your brackets. I don't blame you, those formulae
are confusing to read :) I suggest that you define auxiliary variables
first

xnve = ia_array[@input_kx_nve]
xnve1= ia_array[@input_kx_nve - 1]
xpve = ia_array[@input_kx_pve]
xpve1= ia_array[@input_kx_pve - 1]

etc

and then rewrite the equations in terms of those. They'll be much
clearer to read and you can see where the missing brackets are (I
couldn't right away!)

martin