1. It takes a block and converts it into a Proc object at the time of parsing. This means that the data has to be available in the binding, or you’ll run into errors. Example: instance variables need to be set before you can use them in that block. Better idea: don’t use instance variables in there at all.
2. You can ‘chain’ at_exit calls, and they will be resolved in a First In, Last Out (FILO) order.

Once you know this, using at_exit and writing tests for it becomes a little easier:

class Piddler
   def initialize
     create_pid_file
   end

   private

   def create_pid_file
     pid_file = "/tmp/piddler/my_pid" #Simplified for example purposes
     File.new(pid_file, 'w')
     at_exit { FileUtils.rm_f pid_file }
   end
end

What you’ll notice is that the at_exit block is defined RIGHT AFTER I create what I will need to resolve/undo/finish – not separately, right inside the method.

def test_clears_pid_file_when_it_exits
   at_exit { assert_equal 0, Dir['/tmp/piddler/*].size}
   Piddler.new
end

The advantage of that is that I know exactly when it gets defined. For this example, it gets defined at the end of the ‘initialize > create_pid_file’ call. This means that any at_exit blocks defined BEFORE that will be resolved AFTER.

This blog post explains them very well; and for more information, get “Metaprogramming Ruby”, which is a great book – not only about the callbacks, but about a host of information.

I was working on a parser for a very specific tree structure, and was frustrated that there wasn’t a simple way to parse it in irb. “What??”, I thought. “I have to use my brain?! God forbid!”. So I set to using my brain a little more to create this tool. It’s not much, but maybe it’ll make someone’s life a little easier.

Install: (set up gemcutter)
gem install ListBrowser

It can be used in irb, and really should be used there – when you call it on a tree structure, you’ll get a menu with a list of choices on how you want to go through whatever structure you gave it.

In my particular, special case, I would do something like this:

require ‘sgf_parser’ # For my tree structure require ‘list_browser’ # For this.

tree = SgfParser::Tree.new :filename => “kogo.sgf”

ListBrowser.new tree.root, ‘parent’, ‘children’, ‘properties’

# And follow the menu!

In my particular case, I would not need to enter those strings, as they
just happen to be the names I chose for my tree structure, but they should
serve as a good enough example!

# list is the elements to be permuted
# y is the number of results desired
# z is the number of elements per result
# equalizer keeps track of who got used how many times
def constrained_permutations list, y, z
  list.uniq! # Never trust the user. We want no repetitions.
  equalizer = {}
  list.each { |element| equalizer[element] = 0 }

  results = []
  # Do this until we get as many results as desired
  while results.size < y
    pool = []
    puts pool
    least_used = equalizer.each_value.min
    # Find how used the least used element was
    while pool.size < z
      # Do this until we have enough elements in this resultset
      element = nil
      while element.nil?
        # If we run out of "least used elements", then we need to increment
        # our definition of "least used" by 1 and keep going.
        element = list.shuffle.find do |x|
          !pool.include?(x) && equalizer[x] == least_used
        end
        least_used += 1 if element.nil?
      end
      equalizer[element] += 1
      # This element has now been used one more time.
      pool << element
    end
    results << pool
  end
  return results
end

constrained_permutations [0,1,2,3,4,5,6], 6, 2
=> [[4, 0], [1, 3], [2, 5], [6, 0], [2, 5], [3, 6]]
constrained_permutations [0,1,2,3,4,5,6], 6, 2
=> [[4, 5], [6, 3], [0, 2], [1, 6], [5, 4], [3, 0]]

def array_permutations array, index=0
  # index is 0 by default : start at the beginning, more elegant.
  return array[-1] if index == array.size - 1 # Return last element if at end.
  result = []
  array[index].each do |element| # For each array
    array_permutations(array, index + 1).each do |x| # Permute permute permute
      result << "#{element}, #{x}"
    end
  end
  return result
end

So, we get this:

first = ['one', 'two']
second = ['three', 'four']
third = 'five', 'six']
result = array_permutations [first, second, third]
=> ["one, three, five", "one, three, six", "one, four, five", "one, four, six", "two, three, five", "two, thre
e, six", "two, four, five", "two, four, six"]

Magic!

——
Edit – of course, my solution is hackish, and someone came up with a quicker and more elegant solution:

def fancy_array_permutation array
  return array[0] if array.size == 1
  first = array.shift
  return first.product( fancy_array_permutation(array) ).map {|x| x.flatten.join(" ")}
end

This gives the same result as above.

Good to know.

def same_modality? list
  check = list[0][0]
  list.each do |i|
    return false if check != i[0]
  end
  return true
end

This was “necessary” because I got an array of one-element arrays back, and I wanted to check whether or not that one element was the same across the array.

Three seconds of thinking made me realize that just maybe, I could do this:

list.uniq.size == 1

I -like- Ruby.

def cnh # silly name "create nested hash"
  Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = Hash.new(&h.default_proc)}
end
my_hash = cnh
my_hash[1][2][3] = 4
my_hash # => { 1 => { 2 => { 3 =>4 } } }

This is useful because it reduces the amount of logic in the code. No more “If sub-hash doesn’t exist, create it!”

Courtesy of Robert Klemme on www.ruby-forum.com

_____

Update:

Facets has a way of doing an auto-vivifying hash, too! Thanks to Stackoverflow.

# Monkey patching Hash class:
# File lib/core/facets/hash/autonew.rb, line 19
  def self.autonew(*args)
    leet = lambda { |hsh, key| hsh[key] = new( &leet ) }
    new(*args,&leet)
  end

Now.. Why didn’t I get that when I was looking at LISP?