On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 9:23 AM, stefan heinrich = <lists@ruby-fo= rum.com> wrote:

> It depends. =A0Where do you get the= data from? =A0Is it a fixed set of
> values?=A0 etc.

ok, give me a try to explain. Lets take a look in the Hash

I would prefer to look at the input data and see = the larger picture.
=A0
{"I OFF"=3D>["a8", "1e"], "E OFF"= ;=3D>["98", "a0"], "E ON"=3D>["db&= quot;],
"I ON"=3D>["99"]}

The values "a8", "1e", "98" etc. are random g= enerated values. There are
not fixed but they have an interval. Depending on the value if the LSB =3D<= br> 1 it is an ON and LSB =3D 0 it is a OFF. So normally we can say without
looking to the syntax

=A0 def value_?even(value)
=A0 =A0 return :E_ON if value & 0x01
=A0 =A0 return :E_OFF
=A0 end

Actually, to me it seems there = are two values encoded in those Strings you have above: one is either "= ;I" or "E" and another one is "ON" or "OFF&qu= ot;. =A0For me that means a much more appropriate way to store it would be = an instance with two attributes. =A0You can easily have that with a Struct:=

NameOfYourData =3D Struct.new :whatever_that_means, :en= abled do
=A0 def self.from_string(s)
=A0 =A0 raise Argu= mentError, "Invalid input: #{s}" unless /\A(\w+)\s+(O(?:N|OFF))\z= / =3D~ s

=A0 =A0 new($1, $2 =3D=3D "ON")
=A0 end
= end
=A0
irb(main):007:0> x =3D NameOfYourData.f= rom_string "E ON"
=3D> #<struct NameOfYourData wh= atever_that_means=3D"E", enabled=3Dtrue>

irb(main):008:0> x.enabled
=3D> true
irb(mai= n):009:0> x.whatever_that_means
=3D> "E"

Of course you would pick more meaningful names.

But for a ruby newbie it is very difficult = and confusing to understand
symbols in ruby. I have read so much articles and looked for example to
get it. But I think I need more time to understand symbols.

It's fairly easy when to use Symbols: you do that = if the set of values is restricted. =A0In other programming languages you w= ould often use an enum for that (i.e. a type with a fixed set of values).
=A0
Now what do you suggest me, is it possible t= o implement this like I
explained?

As I said: without seeing the big pict= ure and understanding what all this is about and what those different strin= gs represent it's not possible to come up with good advice. =A0We would= need to know

- what the = input data looks like
- what it means
=
- what you want to do with it
- what the whole purpose of the exercise is

Cheers

robert

--
remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/
--047d7bf0c57ce9a63004e14d4569--