From: Ast Jay on
I didn't see a beginners forum - hope it's ok to post this here.

I feel so daft as this must be the simplest question you've probably
been asked!

Anyway I'm new to Ruby and want to create a very simple script that
generates 100 random words and puts them into an array. I want to put
them into an array so I can use array.uniq! so there are no duplicates.

Here's my code so far (although I have tried lots of variations
already).

----------------
def create_word
first_letter = ["b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n",
"p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z"].shuffle[0..6].join
end

def create_list(word)
words = []
words << word
end

100.times do
list << create_list(create_word)
puts list
end

--------

Like I said I am a beginner... well that's my excuse lol.

Hope someone can help!
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

From: Stefano Crocco on
On Thursday 28 January 2010, Ast Jay wrote:
> |I didn't see a beginners forum - hope it's ok to post this here.
> |
> |I feel so daft as this must be the simplest question you've probably
> |been asked!
> |
> |Anyway I'm new to Ruby and want to create a very simple script that
> |generates 100 random words and puts them into an array. I want to put
> |them into an array so I can use array.uniq! so there are no duplicates.
> |
> |Here's my code so far (although I have tried lots of variations
> |already).
> |
> |----------------
> |def create_word
> | first_letter = ["b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n",
> |"p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z"].shuffle[0..6].join
> |end
> |
> |def create_list(word)
> | words = []
> | words << word
> |end
> |
> |100.times do
> | list << create_list(create_word)
> | puts list
> |end
> |
> |--------
> |
> |Like I said I am a beginner... well that's my excuse lol.
> |
> |Hope someone can help!

First of all it would be better, when asking for help, to tell exactly what
the problem is (for example, including the error message you obtain or
explaining why the result your code produces is not what you expected). This
way, you make things easier for people wanting to help you.

As for your code. The error is in the line

list << create_list(create_word)

The problem is that something called list has never been defined before, so
ruby doesn't know what to do with it. What you wanted is

list = create_list(create_word)

This creates a local variable called list and stores inside it the value that
the create_list method returns.

I hope this helps

Stefano

From: Aldric Giacomoni on
Ast Jay wrote:
> I didn't see a beginners forum - hope it's ok to post this here.
>
> I feel so daft as this must be the simplest question you've probably
> been asked!
>
> Anyway I'm new to Ruby and want to create a very simple script that
> generates 100 random words and puts them into an array. I want to put
> them into an array so I can use array.uniq! so there are no duplicates.
>

Hi and welcome to Ruby and its community!
Your code looks good so far.

>def create_word
> first_letter = ["b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n",
> "p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z"].shuffle[0..6].join
> end

You don't need to create "first_letter". Ruby returns the last
expression evaluated -- so when you run that line, it returns a string
of seven characters.

> def create_list(word)
> words = []
> words << word
> end

Clever! There is however something even CLEVERER!
def create_list word # note the parenthesis are optional!
[word]
end

As you can see, there's no need for a method just to do that.

> 100.times do
> list << create_list(create_word)
> puts list
> end

A "Set" is an array that doesn't accept duplicates. So you can do this:

require 'set'
list = Set.new
100.times { list << create_word }

or...
list = []
100.times { list << create_word }
list.uniq!

Make sense?
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

From: Steve Klabnik on
[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Here's your problem:

def create_list(word)

words = []

words << word

end


Every time you call create_list, you make a new list.

If I were going to write your code, I'd do it like this:

words = []

100.times { words << ("a".."z").to_a.shuffle[0..6].join }

words.uniq!


Make sense?

From: Josh Cheek on
[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 2:47 PM, Ast Jay <azzzz(a)gmx.net> wrote:

> I didn't see a beginners forum - hope it's ok to post this here.
>
> I feel so daft as this must be the simplest question you've probably
> been asked!
>
> Anyway I'm new to Ruby and want to create a very simple script that
> generates 100 random words and puts them into an array. I want to put
> them into an array so I can use array.uniq! so there are no duplicates.
>
> Here's my code so far (although I have tried lots of variations
> already).
>
> ----------------
> def create_word
> first_letter = ["b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n",
> "p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z"].shuffle[0..6].join
> end
>
> def create_list(word)
> words = []
> words << word
> end
>
> 100.times do
> list << create_list(create_word)
> puts list
> end
>
> --------
>
> Like I said I am a beginner... well that's my excuse lol.
>
> Hope someone can help!
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
>
Don't be so hard on yourself :)

I'm not completely certain what you were wanting to happen, this works for
me, and seems to behave in pretty much the same way your looked like it
wanted to behave.

def create_word
Array('b'..'z').shuffle[0..6].join
end

list = Array.new
100.times { list << create_word }

puts list