Class MethodicHash
In: lib/methodic_hash.rb
Parent: Hash

The MethodicHash is some method_missing magic that uses method names as hash keys, so hash assignment and lookup appear to be attribute writing and reading. For instance, if 

  mh = MethodicHash.new
  mh['four']  = 'iv'
  mh[:seven]  = 'vii'
  mh.eighteen = 'xviii'

then 

  mh['four']     ---> 'iv'
  mh[:four]      ---> 'iv'
  mh.four        ---> 'iv'
  mh['seven']    ---> 'vii'
  mh[:seven]     ---> 'vii'
  mh.seven       ---> 'vii'
  mh['eighteen'] ---> 'xviii'
  mh[:eighteen]  ---> 'xviii'
  mh.eighteen    ---> 'xviii'

This allows access to simply declared facts to be embedded in Ruby code and leverages the possibility of hashing procs.

Note that if the hash uses anything but strings or symbols as keys, the magic stands a good chance of failing, raising an error or acting in a bizarre manner. Note also that methods of the Hash cannot be used as ‘attribute’ names.

Methods

[]   delete   method_missing  

Public Instance methods

[](key)

Try to look up using a key directly, or if that fails as a string, or as a symbol as last resort. If a symbol conversion doesn‘t exists, rescue with a nil.

delete(key,&block)

Deletes and returns the key-value pairs from hash whose keys are equal to key.to_s or key.to_sym. If both key.to_s and key.to_sym are in the hash, then both values are returned in an Array, respectively. If neither key is found, the delete is deferred to the Hash.

method_missing(method,*args)

A missing method is assummed to be the assignment of a value of a key, or the lookup of a value with a key.

[Validate]