I have a Person with title, forename and surname (all of which are optional). I want to return a 'pretty' name for this person in the format..
title + <space> + forename + <space> + surname
..where any extraneous spaces are removed.
My name method currently looks like this
def name
(
(title.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : title.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(forename.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : forename.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(surname.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : surname.to_s.strip)
).strip
end
I created seven tests for this method for each combination of the three parameters. All seven tests pass with this implementation.
Note. I was half way through writing about how I should probably test for nil and maybe return an empty string from the three (title, forename, surname) methods when I realised that all I was really doing was testing for nil in a roundabout way; i.e. convert possible nil's to string then strip spaces then check for empty...
I started thinking about this some more and realised that a test for nil would return false which would allow me to re-write the above method like so..
def name
(
(title ? title.strip << " " : "") <<
(forename ? forename.strip << " " : "") <<
(surname ? surname.strip : "")
).strip
end
This gets rid of the nasty duplication and double question marks in the first method.
I also realised that I needed another test - for all nil's. They all still passed.
What I was originally going to ask was how to improve on the first implementation above. Even though (in my opinion) the second implementation is a lot cleaner I'm still interested in whether it can be made even more succinct as in 'the ruby way'?
It may be a very small method and have taken me about an hour to go through this process but I'm quite pleased as to how it's turned out.
Chris
"#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip
···
On 5/5/05, Chris Roos <chris@seagul.co.uk> wrote:
I have a Person with title, forename and surname (all of which are
optional). I want to return a 'pretty' name for this person in the format..
title + <space> + forename + <space> + surname
..where any extraneous spaces are removed.
My name method currently looks like this
def name
(
(title.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : title.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(forename.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : forename.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(surname.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : surname.to_s.strip)
).strip
end
I created seven tests for this method for each combination of the three
parameters. All seven tests pass with this implementation.
Note. I was half way through writing about how I should probably test
for nil and maybe return an empty string from the three (title,
forename, surname) methods when I realised that all I was really doing
was testing for nil in a roundabout way; i.e. convert possible nil's to
string then strip spaces then check for empty...
I started thinking about this some more and realised that a test for nil
would return false which would allow me to re-write the above method
like so..
def name
(
(title ? title.strip << " " : "") <<
(forename ? forename.strip << " " : "") <<
(surname ? surname.strip : "")
).strip
end
This gets rid of the nasty duplication and double question marks in the
first method.
I also realised that I needed another test - for all nil's. They all
still passed.
What I was originally going to ask was how to improve on the first
implementation above. Even though (in my opinion) the second
implementation is a lot cleaner I'm still interested in whether it can
be made even more succinct as in 'the ruby way'?
It may be a very small method and have taken me about an hour to go
through this process but I'm quite pleased as to how it's turned out.
Chris
Hi --
I have a Person with title, forename and surname (all of which are optional). I want to return a 'pretty' name for this person in the format..
title + <space> + forename + <space> + surname
..where any extraneous spaces are removed.
My name method currently looks like this
def name
(
(title.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : title.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(forename.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : forename.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(surname.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : surname.to_s.strip)
).strip
end
[...]
What I was originally going to ask was how to improve on the first implementation above. Even though (in my opinion) the second implementation is a lot cleaner I'm still interested in whether it can be made even more succinct as in 'the ruby way'?
I'd let Ruby do more of the work, especially the iterating through the
items. Something like this might be suitable:
class Person
attr_accessor :title, :forename, :surname
def name
[title, forename, surname].compact.map {|s| s.strip }.join(" ")
end
end
David
···
On Fri, 6 May 2005, Chris Roos wrote:
--
David A. Black
dblack@wobblini.net
Thanks for coming back so fast. Unfortunately, this doesn't pass one of the tests - where only a title and surname is supplied this implementation will put two spaces in the middle...
"Mr Bloggs" instead of
"Mr Bloggs"
Chris
Logan Capaldo wrote:
···
"#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip
On 5/5/05, Chris Roos <chris@seagul.co.uk> wrote:
I have a Person with title, forename and surname (all of which are
optional). I want to return a 'pretty' name for this person in the format..
title + <space> + forename + <space> + surname
..where any extraneous spaces are removed.
My name method currently looks like this
def name
(
(title.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : title.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(forename.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : forename.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(surname.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : surname.to_s.strip)
).strip
end
I created seven tests for this method for each combination of the three
parameters. All seven tests pass with this implementation.
Note. I was half way through writing about how I should probably test
for nil and maybe return an empty string from the three (title,
forename, surname) methods when I realised that all I was really doing
was testing for nil in a roundabout way; i.e. convert possible nil's to
string then strip spaces then check for empty...
I started thinking about this some more and realised that a test for nil
would return false which would allow me to re-write the above method
like so..
def name
(
(title ? title.strip << " " : "") <<
(forename ? forename.strip << " " : "") <<
(surname ? surname.strip : "")
).strip
end
This gets rid of the nasty duplication and double question marks in the
first method.
I also realised that I needed another test - for all nil's. They all
still passed.
What I was originally going to ask was how to improve on the first
implementation above. Even though (in my opinion) the second
implementation is a lot cleaner I'm still interested in whether it can
be made even more succinct as in 'the ruby way'?
It may be a very small method and have taken me about an hour to go
through this process but I'm quite pleased as to how it's turned out.
Chris
This leaves spaces in the middle.
[title, forename, surname].join(' ').gsub(/ /, ' ')
require 'test/unit'
class TestFullName < Test::Unit::TestCase
def setup
@title = "Mr."
@surname = "Hodel"
end
def test_strip
assert_equal "Mr. Hodel", "#{@title} #{@forename} #{@surname}".strip
end
def test_join_gsub
assert_equal("Mr. Hodel",
[@title, @forename, @surname].join(' ').gsub(/ /, ' '))
end
end
···
On 05 May 2005, at 16:45, Logan Capaldo wrote:
On 5/5/05, Chris Roos <chris@seagul.co.uk> wrote:
I have a Person with title, forename and surname (all of which are
optional). I want to return a 'pretty' name for this person in the format..
title + <space> + forename + <space> + surname
..where any extraneous spaces are removed.
"#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip
--
Eric Hodel - drbrain@segment7.net - http://segment7.net
FEC2 57F1 D465 EB15 5D6E 7C11 332A 551C 796C 9F04
David A. Black wrote:
Hi --
I have a Person with title, forename and surname (all of which are optional). I want to return a 'pretty' name for this person in the format..
title + <space> + forename + <space> + surname
..where any extraneous spaces are removed.
My name method currently looks like this
def name
(
(title.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : title.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(forename.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : forename.to_s.strip << " ") <<
(surname.to_s.strip.empty? ? "" : surname.to_s.strip)
).strip
end
[...]
What I was originally going to ask was how to improve on the first implementation above. Even though (in my opinion) the second implementation is a lot cleaner I'm still interested in whether it can be made even more succinct as in 'the ruby way'?
I'd let Ruby do more of the work, especially the iterating through the
items. Something like this might be suitable:
class Person
attr_accessor :title, :forename, :surname
def name
[title, forename, surname].compact.map {|s| s.strip }.join(" ")
end
end
David
Hmm, an hours work and a five line implementation replaced by one line a matter of minutes... I have a long way to go 
Thanks for your help.
···
On Fri, 6 May 2005, Chris Roos wrote:
Ok Ok I admit it! I forgot the squeeze!
To reiterate:
"#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip.squeeze
···
On 5/5/05, Dominik Schlütter <schlu-do@gmx.net> wrote:
Hi,
Logan Capaldo <logancapaldo@gmail.com> wrote:
> "#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip
But that would leave double spaces in the middle if 'forename' was
empty, wouldn't it?
Regards,
Dominik.
Chris Roos wrote:
Hmm, an hours work and a five line implementation replaced by one line a matter of minutes... I have a long way to go
Yeah, but it's a great trip and you have excellent company.
James
Ooops, one more mistake in my iteration, stop listening to me
everyone! "#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip.squeeze(' ')
···
On 5/5/05, Logan Capaldo <logancapaldo@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok Ok I admit it! I forgot the squeeze!
To reiterate:
"#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip.squeeze
On 5/5/05, Dominik Schlütter <schlu-do@gmx.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Logan Capaldo <logancapaldo@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > "#{title} #{forename} #{surname}".strip
>
> But that would leave double spaces in the middle if 'forename' was
> empty, wouldn't it?
>
> Regards,
>
> Dominik.
>
>
You would, however, have to put a