Instantiate random subclasses of Creature (Dragon, TeethDeer, etc)

ruby-talk
1

I want to not just create Dragons, but randomly other creatures.
Perhaps from a hard coded list? I was thinking of using random
numbers and case statements, but surely there's ruby-esque way to
specify:

types of creatures:

AssistantViceTentacleAndOmbudsman.rb
Dragon.rb
IntrepidDecomposedCyclist.rb
TeethDeer.rb

and then (pseudo-) randomly select one to instantiate? Symbols seem
promising but I'm not sure how to implement it.

C:\code>
C:\code>
C:\code>type Driver.rb
require 'ArrayOfCreatures'
require 'Dragon'
require 'Creature'

#numOfCreatures=Kernel.rand(3)

puts "\nquantity of creatures:"
numOfCreatures = gets.chomp.to_i

someCreatures = ArrayOfCreatures.new #need to ensure that this array
can only hold Creatures

0.upto(numOfCreatures) do |i|
        someCreatures[i]=Dragon.new #all dragons? what about
TeethDeer's?
        print "\n"
        print "someCreatures["
        print i
        print "]:\n"
        print someCreatures[i].toString
end

C:\code>

thanks,

Thufir

2

Just the other week I taught myself how to make a plugin type architecture using a similar manner, their might be a better way to do this, but this works and it's simple.

Wrap all of the plugin (creatures in your case) in the same namespace, and put them in their own directory.

i.e.
module Namespace
  module Creatures
    class Dragon
      def initialize()
        puts "Dragon#initialize"
      end
    end
  end
end

Then you may dynamically import the creatures into your program, and make an array of them in a snap.

Dir['creatures/*.rb'].each { |path|
  require path
}
creatures = Namespace::Creatures.constants

This gives you an array of Strings containing the names of all classes in the Namespace::Creatures namespace in the creatures directory. You can then initialize any of your creature objects using it's name in the Array.

creature = Namespace::Creatures.const_get(creatures[0]).new
# Dragon#initialize

Now just add the random factor you desire

someCreature = Namespace::Creature.const_get(creatures[rand(creatures.size)])

Have fun!
Jake

···

On Nov 6, 2007, at 10:44 PM, Thufir wrote:

I want to not just create Dragons, but randomly other creatures.
Perhaps from a hard coded list? I was thinking of using random
numbers and case statements, but surely there's ruby-esque way to
specify:

types of creatures:

AssistantViceTentacleAndOmbudsman.rb
Dragon.rb
IntrepidDecomposedCyclist.rb
TeethDeer.rb

and then (pseudo-) randomly select one to instantiate? Symbols seem
promising but I'm not sure how to implement it.

C:\code>
C:\code>type Driver.rb
require 'ArrayOfCreatures'
require 'Dragon'
require 'Creature'

#numOfCreatures=Kernel.rand(3)

puts "\nquantity of creatures:"
numOfCreatures = gets.chomp.to_i

someCreatures = ArrayOfCreatures.new #need to ensure that this array
can only hold Creatures

0.upto(numOfCreatures) do |i|
       someCreatures[i]=Dragon.new #all dragons? what about
TeethDeer's?
       print "\n"
       print "someCreatures["
       print i
       print "]:\n"
       print someCreatures[i].toString
end

C:\code>

thanks,

Thufir

3

Ooops, I have two threads on this topic in the ruby group. The other
thread is "
instantiate random subclasses of Creature (Dragon, TeethDeer, etc) ".
Sorry, I'm at work and must've gotten distracted, posted twice by
accident.

This was along the lines of the solution I had in mind, although
another suggestion was to look into the inherited hook (?) which I'm
googling.

Thank you for the food for thought :slight_smile:

-Thufir

4

fyi, you might find this interesting

   http://drawohara.tumblr.com/post/18708641

regards.

a @ http://codeforpeople.com/

···

On Nov 7, 2007, at 5:11 PM, Thufir wrote:

Ooops, I have two threads on this topic in the ruby group. The other
thread is "
instantiate random subclasses of Creature (Dragon, TeethDeer, etc) ".
Sorry, I'm at work and must've gotten distracted, posted twice by
accident.

This was along the lines of the solution I had in mind, although
another suggestion was to look into the inherited hook (?) which I'm
googling.

Thank you for the food for thought :slight_smile:

-Thufir

--
it is not enough to be compassionate. you must act.
h.h. the 14th dalai lama