From: Dave Aronson <rubytalk2dave@...>
Date: 2011-10-14T11:29:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Learning Ruby question regarding Looping

On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 11:27, Dennis Nguyen <zerofiftysix@gmail.com> wrote:

> But I need some help to understand looping.

Try thinking like the computer.  Remember, it's wonderfully fast and
has a (nearly) flawless memory... but it does only exactly what you
tell it to do, not what you *want* it to do, or what any human can
clearly see you (almost certainly) meant.  Step through the program,
pretending to be the computer.  Note the values of the variables, the
results of comparisons, any input or output, etc.  Try it with
different input values.  Way Back When, we used to call this "hand
simulation", dirty as that may sound.  ;-)

In this particular case, assuming the reply wasn't "yes", you'll note
yourself asking "What!?" over and over.  Ask yourself why you're doing
that over and over.  It's because each time you check the answer, it
isn't "yes" -- and it *keeps on* not being "yes".  Ask yourself, how
can I make it *become* "yes"?  The answer is, you have to let the user
type it in again.  Then the light bulb should turn on over your head,
regarding where the "reply = gets.chomp" needs to be.  :-)

-Dave

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