From: Rich Kilmer <rich@...>
Date: 2002-04-30T21:51:54+09:00
Subject: RE: An example of the beauty of Ruby...

OK...about as nitpicking as it gets...

upload unless unchanged?

Per the standard Rubyism of the question mark for Boolean methods.

-Rich :)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hal E. Fulton [mailto:hal9000@hypermetrics.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 1:49 AM
> To: ruby-talk ML
> Subject: An example of the beauty of Ruby...
> 
> Who was it who said something like, "In Ruby,
> my thoughts flow directly into code"?
> 
> I ran across this example I thought I'd share.
> 
> I've been working on a simple application that
> will download files for editing, invoke an editor,
> and re-upload afterward.
> 
> Then I thought to myself: "Hmm. But I don't really
> want to bother uploading the file if it doesn't change."
> 
> So I wrote this bit of pseudocode:
> 
>       upload unless unchanged
> 
> (Being a product of the 1980s, I think in pseudocode...
> I have even had to draw [shudder] flowcharts in one
> or two college courses... but don't tell anyone.)
> 
> So I thought: "Hmm. I could put all the relevant
> information into instance variables. Then the method
> could access them as needed. Why don't I just call it
> 'upload'? Then put an if-statement around it to handle
> the change check... wait a minute. I could have a method
> called 'unchanged' for that."
> 
> So I wrote this line of code:
> 
>       upload unless unchanged
> 
> Deja vu, anyone?
> 
> BTW, although this app is still rather clunky, I'll announce
> it soon so that people can suggest improvements, fixes,
> and so on. (I call it RubyRED, for Ruby Remote Editor.
> It's one of those names which, if I didn't use, someone
> else would.)
> 
> Cheers,
> Hal Fulton
>