From: Gavin Kistner <phrogz@...>
Date: 2011-09-04T10:19:47+09:00
Subject: Re: Beginner needing help - Writing right-angle triangle program

On Sep 3, 2011, at 2:16 PM, Adam Prescott <adam@aprescott.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 4:36 PM, Gavin Kistner <phrogz@me.com> wrote:
>> def right_triangle_sides( circumference )
>> [].tap do |solutions|
>>   1.upto(circumference-2) do |a|
>>     1.upto(a-1) do |b|
>>       c = circumference-a-b
>>       if a*a+b*b == c*c
>>         solutions.concat( [a,b,c].permutation.to_a )
>>       end
>>     end
>>   end
>> end
>> end
> A very curious use of #tap.

:) I get a lot of flack for "abusing" tap like this. I happen to find this pattern annoying:

    def xyz
      foo = ...
      # do things to foo
      foo
    end

and so have taken to using the very-low-impact of tap to make it more functional-style:

    def xyz
      ....tap do |foo|
        # do things to foo
      end
    end