Convert numbers to "non-ascii" strings

ruby-talk
1

Dave --

I'm afraid that you may have selected the incorrect language for the
task at hand. Your question implies that you are doing some complex
parsing or homogenization, and Ruby, while a nice scripting language
for small tasks, is simply not a good choice for that application. If
you want to do simple web development or a little scraping, Ruby is
good for that, but that's about the extent of what it can really
handle well.

I suggest you look at Perl or TCL for a serious scripting language,
Java for a robust programming language, and Visual Basic if you want
an ultra-fast development environment. These are tools that can
handle the task you describe in a sensible way.

I am not saying that you should give up Ruby. Ruby is great for
learning some of the object-oriented concepts that while interesting,
may not be practical for some tasks in the real world.

Hope that helps

Cheers

G

···

On Feb 26, 8:46 am, Dave M <dmil...@tecolote.net> wrote:

Hello all

I would like to convert integers to strings in a way that I haven't come
across in the Ruby functions I have looked at. I would like the string
to be exactly what the integer would be if I read it in from a binary file.

In other words, the integer 0x61626364 would be the string "abcd" after
the conversion. I can write code to do it, but I think there is
probably a better way than the approach I have come up with.

This works but seems very brute force to me:

# assumes 32 bit numbers.
class Bignum
     def to_ls
         i = self
         s = ""
         4.times { s.concat(i & 0xff); i >>= 8}
         return s.reverse
     end
end

puts 0x61626364.to_ls
abcd

Also, it seems that I need this for both Bignum and Fixnum to cover the
entire 32 bit number range.

Thanks

Dave M

2

Consultant1guru@hotmail.com wrote:

I'm afraid that you may have selected the incorrect language for the
task at hand. Your question implies that you are doing some complex
parsing or ...

Nothing whatever complex about it, quite simple in Ruby:

class Numeric
  def to_ls
    [self].pack("N")
  end
end

Works for BigNum and FixNum, no need to modify those classes.

Clifford Heath.

3

Consultant1guru@hotmail.com wrote:

···

On Feb 26, 8:46 am, Dave M <dmil...@tecolote.net> wrote:

Hello all

I would like to convert integers to strings in a way that I haven't come
across in the Ruby functions I have looked at. I would like the string
to be exactly what the integer would be if I read it in from a binary file.

In other words, the integer 0x61626364 would be the string "abcd" after
the conversion. I can write code to do it, but I think there is
probably a better way than the approach I have come up with.

This works but seems very brute force to me:

# assumes 32 bit numbers.
class Bignum
     def to_ls
         i = self
         s = ""
         4.times { s.concat(i & 0xff); i >>= 8}
         return s.reverse
     end
end

puts 0x61626364.to_ls
abcd

Also, it seems that I need this for both Bignum and Fixnum to cover the
entire 32 bit number range.

Thanks

Dave M

Dave --

I'm afraid that you may have selected the incorrect language for the
task at hand. Your question implies that you are doing some complex
parsing or homogenization, and Ruby, while a nice scripting language
for small tasks, is simply not a good choice for that application. If
you want to do simple web development or a little scraping, Ruby is
good for that, but that's about the extent of what it can really
handle well.

I suggest you look at Perl or TCL for a serious scripting language,
Java for a robust programming language, and Visual Basic if you want
an ultra-fast development environment. These are tools that can
handle the task you describe in a sensible way.

I am not saying that you should give up Ruby. Ruby is great for
learning some of the object-oriented concepts that while interesting,
may not be practical for some tasks in the real world.

Hope that helps

Cheers

G

Please reconsider your assessment of ruby, G.

[0x61626364].pack("N")

This returns the string "abcd" and does so elegantly and efficiently.

In my experience and that of many others on this mailing list, ruby can be used for a variety of complex tasks, and not just web apps. Also, like perl, it makes simple tasks simple.

--
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407