Re^3: Perl is more intuitive

each is actually a method name that's used for many of the container types; arrays use it too:

arr.each { | x |  # iterates the elements, NOT the index 
  puts x
}
[download]

Basically, each here is just a method that recieves a block (like perl's anonymous subroutines) as an argument. The container type is then responsible for calling the block for each element.

Any class can provide it's own each method - this is not a built-in function like perl's foreach.

"What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"

Comment on Re^3: Perl is more intuitive Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^4: Perl is more intuitive by kiat (Vicar) on Aug 19, 2005 at 13:44 UTC
Ah, I see. Then if I'm new to the language and I'm reading someone's code, it may be harder for me to understand what's going on, unless the variables are named such as to give a hint e.g. arr_grades, hash_address.	[reply]
Re^5: Perl is more intuitive by Joost (Canon) on Aug 19, 2005 at 14:08 UTC
That's true, but rubys library design is based on the idea that you should not tie down the type of a variable in the syntax, because if you do that, polymorphism becomes a lot more difficult (c.f. Java's interfaces, or C++'s multiple-inheritance). Take this simple function: `def print_all(array) array.each do \|el\| puts el end end` [download] The name of the parameter is "array", but because there is no type indication, this will work just as well with a File (print each line) a Set (print every element of the set), a Struct or some other object that happens to have an each() method that works like this. According to the idiom, an each method should "walk through" a collection - as long as you use idiomatic design, your code will remain relatively easy to interpret. I like this strategy, but as you noted, it does have some drawbacks if you want to figure out what a complex piece of code does exactly, or when the idiom is broken. "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply] [d/l]