Data Objects

• 10

  OCT
  2008

  All About Struct

  I build small little data classes all the time and there's a reason for that: Ruby makes it trivial to do so. That's a big win because we all know that what is a trivial data class today will be tomorrow's super object, right? If I start out using a simple Array or Hash, I'll probably end up redoing most of the logic at both ends eventually. Or I can start with the trivial class and grow it naturally.

  The key to all this though is that I don't write those classes myself! That's what Ruby is for. More specifically, you need to learn to love Struct. Allow me to show you what I mean.

  Imagine I need a basic class to represent a Contact. Ruby gives us so many shortcuts that the class could be very small even without Struct:

  class Contact
    def initialize(first, last, email)
      @first = first
      @last  = last
      @email = email
    end
  
    attr_accessor :first, :last, :email
  end
  

  You could shorten that up more with some multiple assignment if you like, but that's the basics. Now using Struct is even easier:

  Read more…

  In: Ruby Voodoo | Tags: Data Objects & Hidden Features | 8 Comments