From: Gavin Kistner <phrogz@...>
Date: 2011-09-05T00:29:05+09:00
Subject: Re: Beginner needing help - Writing right-angle triangle program

On Sep 3, 2011, at 8:57 PM, 7stud -- wrote:
> Gavin Kistner wrote in post #1020000:
>> On Sep 3, 2011, at 2:16 PM, Adam Prescott <adam@aprescott.com> wrote:
>>> 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
> 
> So when you read the thread title,  "Beginner needing help", you thought
> you would make some moves to impress the new guy, and show him how
> unintelligible ruby is?

No, that was not my intention. I don't personally find it unintelligible; indeed, other than the name of the method "tap" I find that pattern to look more elegant then a clumsy repetition of variable names. (If the method were named something like "named" or "using" or "with" my particular usage might read slightly better.) 

For comparison and instruction of a new user, however, here's my solution slightly changed to use what I deem to be the uglier code, and what I suppose 7stud feels is more attractive:

def right_triangle_sides( circumference )
  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
  solutions
end