[Ruby] Refactoring - Printable Version

[Ruby] Refactoring - Printable Version

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[Ruby] Refactoring - Inori - 05-22-2015

In Ruby, there's always more than one way to accomplish something. Some ways are cleaner, more efficient and faster than others, however.

Speed refactors:

If you have a lot of code, cutting down 1/100th of a second can add up. Here are some ways of speeding up your Ruby interpreter.

Hash Key lookups:
while setting keys in a hash, it's tempting to use a string or an integer. The better way to do this is with Symbols.

Code:
#slow
hash = { "test_key" => "test value" }
#fast
hash = { :test_key => "test value" }

#now if we look for the key using

#the slow way
hash.has_key?("test_key")
#and the fast way
hash.has_key?(:test_key)

#the first way takes 0.02ish seconds, while the second takes 0.01

Cleanliness refactors:

I get really irritated when people make messy, hard to understand code. The following will help any new Ruby programmer with that.

Arrays:
If you need an array of sequential numbers or letters, you can use this trick:

Code:
#please don't (especially not the strings, if not needed)
letters = ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", "o", "p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z"]

#use this one
letters = ("a".."z").to_a

The efficient way converts a Range to an Array with the .to_a method

Loops:
Cutting lines out from simple loops is one of the easiest tricks in the refactoring book. It works as follows.

Code:
alphabet = (:a..:z).to_a #remember this?
#sloppy way
alphabet.each do |letter|
    puts letter
end
#better way
alphabet.each do { |letter| puts letter }

Conditional statements:
A huge if/elsif/else statement is a pain in the ass to sift through and is often an eyesore. A better way is to use case.

Code:
a = 0
#annoying
if a == 0
    puts "logic exists"
elsif a == 1
    puts "what the fuck?"
else
    puts "I don't even know.."
end

#far more satisfying
case a
when 0
    puts "logic exists"
when 1
    puts "what the fuck?"
else
    puts "I don't even know.."
end

If you just need "if", you can do the following:

Code:
a = 0
#please don't do this
if a == 0
    puts "logic is a thing."
end

#do this
puts "logic is a thing." if a == 0
end

These are just a few examples of refactoring. Check out Stack Overflow or CodeCademy for more examples. And for fuck's sake, don't use the sloppy, lazy way.
Thanks!
-Touka

RE: [Ruby] Refactoring - Jolly - 05-22-2015

Thanks for the great tutorial, it sure helps out a lot! Biggrin