From: AW <sturmpanzer@...>
Date: 2002-08-22T04:33:26+09:00
Subject: Re: the power of ruby

Great example!
Thats a lot to chew on. 

>My "imaginative" attempt is below.
>
>
>=begin
>  starfield.rb, by Gavin Sinclair
>
>  This is a verbose, almost obfuscated implementation of a simple
>  program in Ruby.  It is intended to demonstrate the following just
>  for the sake of it:
>    - class
>    - attr_reader
>    - Comparable mixin
>    - Range, esp. of user-defined type
>    - for x in y syntax
>    - array manipulation
>=end
>
>WIDTH = 78
>
>class Star
>  include Comparable    # Import comparison operations <, ==, ...
>
>  attr_reader :n        # Attribute ':n' can be read through auto-defined
>                        # method 'n'.
>
>  def initialize(n)     # Called when a new Star object is created.
>    @n = n
>  end
>
>  def <=>(other)        # Compare to another Star.
>    @n <=> other.n
>  end
>
>  def succ              # Next element in sequence, needed for Range.
>    Star.new(@n+1)
>  end
>
>  def to_s              # The value that is returned when the object is
>    " " * @n + "*"      # coerced into a String.
>  end
>end
>
>
># We can create a Range of Stars.
>starfield = Star.new(0) .. Star.new(WIDTH)
>
>loop do
>  # Print them in turn.
>  for star in starfield
>    puts star
>  end
>
>  # To print them going back, we have to get dirty.  Note that we
>  # ignore the rightmost star, to get the effect you want.
>  for star in starfield.to_a.reverse[1..-1]
>    puts star
>  end
>end
>
>(END OF CODE)
>
>Cheers,
>Gavin
>
>