Comprehensive Ruby Programming

Comprehensive Ruby Programming

Go from beginner to confident programmer

Jordan Hudgens

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

Comprehensive Ruby Programming

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

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First published: June 2017

Production reference: 1280617

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78728-064-9

Credits

About the Author

Jordan Hudgens is the CTO and founder of DevCamp, where he leads instruction and curriculum development for all the DevCamp and Bottega code schools around the US.

As a developer over the past decade, Jordan has traveled the world building applications and training individuals on a wide variety of topics, including Ruby development, big data analysis, and software engineering.

Jordan focuses on project-driven education as opposed to theory-based development. This style of teaching is conducive to learning how to build real-world products that adhere to industry best practices.

Additionally, Jordan has published multiple books on programming and computer science along with developing training curriculum for Learn.co, DevCamp, and AppDev on the topics, namely Ruby on Rails, Java, AngularJS, NoSQL, API development, and algorithms.

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Table of Contents

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

Introduction to the Ruby Programming Language

What is Ruby?

Popular sites that use Ruby

Installing Ruby on a computer

Ruby language dashboard

Installing different Ruby versions with RVM

Summary

Ruby Variables

Using variables in Ruby

Variable code implementation

Printing to the Ruby console

Using puts

Using p

Getting input from the Ruby console using gets and chomp

Code implementation

Variable scope and variable types

Local variables

Global variables

Instance variables

Constants

Class variables

Summary

Ruby Strings

Using strings in Ruby

Missing quotation marks

Printing strings

Storing strings in variables

String interpolation guide for Ruby

What is string interpolation?

String manipulation guide

What is string manipulation?

String manipulation code examples

Method chaining

A practical implementation

Give it a bang!

String substitution guide

Adding a bang

Becoming a block head

Split, strip, and join guides for strings

Using the strip method

Using the split method

Using the join method

Summary

Working with Numbers in Ruby

Integer arithmetic guide

Arithmetic order of operations

Difference between integers and floats

Summary

Ruby Methods

Creating methods in Ruby

What does a Ruby method return?

What are the differences between class and instance methods in Ruby?

Ruby proc tutorial

Proc code example

What is a block?

The Ruby lambda tutorial

Stabby lambdas

What is the difference between procs and lambdas in Ruby?

Argument count

Return behavior

Guide to method arguments in Ruby

What are method arguments?

Method argument syntax

Method argument code examples

Named arguments

Default argument values

Using splat and optional arguments in Ruby methods

Traditional splat arguments

Keyword-based splat arguments

Optional arguments

Summary

Ruby Iterators and Loops

The while loop guide

The while loop code example

The each iterator method tutorial

The each loop code example

The for...in loops tutorial

Looping over a hash

Nested iterator code example

Using the select method

Using the map method – part 1

The map method code example

Using the map method – part 2

Summing values in an array using the inject method

Summary

Ruby Collections

Using arrays

Deleting items from arrays

Using push and pop for arrays

The Ruby hash tutorial

The hash code example

Deleting elements from a hash

Iterating over a hash for a key or value

Top hash methods in Ruby

Adding elements to a hash

Swapping keys and values

Merging hashes

Converting a hash into an array

Listing all keys

Listing all values

Summary

Ruby Conditionals

The conditionals guide

Real-world use of conditionals

Code example of conditionals

Syntax for the unless conditional

Running Ruby files

The unless conditional code example

Nested if...else conditionals

The if...elsif conditional code example

The conditional workflow

Guide to compound conditionals

Compound conditionals code example

Compounded compound conditionals

Additional conditional operators

Summary

Object-Oriented Programming in Ruby

Introduction to how OOP works

A real-world OOP example

Ruby OOP development – setters, getters, and methods

Working with instantiation in Ruby

What does instantiation mean? – A real-world example

Connecting the dots

Instantiation code example

Implementing instantiation

Creating an initializer method in a Ruby class

Adding an initializer to a Ruby class

Working with optional values

Using named arguments

Overriding default values

The working of OOP inheritance

Overview of private versus public methods

Private versus public methods

Private method code example

The working of polymorphism and usage of super

So how does polymorphism fit in?

Dead simple OOP

My history with OOP

How does OOP work?

SOLID OOP development – the simple responsibility principle

The single responsibility principle

The SRP in the real world

An SRP example

The class that knew too much

Rule of thumb – no ands allowed

A mailer class

The sales tax class

Why the SRP is important

SOLID OOP development – the open/closed principle guide and example

The open/closed principle definition

A surprisingly challenging task

The open/closed principle example

The naive approach

I don't like change!

A better way

SOLID OOP development – the Liskov substitution principle

The LSP definition

Breaking down the LSP

The LSP example

The problem

The LSP violation

The fix

SOLID OOP development – the interface segregation principle

The ISP definition

The ISP code example

Introducing the moderator

A better way

The result

A caveat

SOLID OOP development – the dependency inversion principle

The DIP in the real world

The DIP definition

The DIP code example

Recap

Summary

Working with the Filesystem in Ruby

Creating a file

Ruby File class

Other options you can pass as the second option

Reading files into a program using the File class

Deleting a file

Appending a file

Building a log file

Summary

Error Handling in Ruby

Error handling tutorial

Error handling – the best practices

Developing a custom error logger in Ruby

Summary

Regular Expressions in Ruby

Regular expression code example

Regex code example

How to validate an IP address using regular expressions

How to develop a wheel of fortune game

Summary

Searching with grep in Ruby

How to use grep in Ruby

How to use grep instead of the select and map methods

Summary

Ruby Gems

Introduction to Ruby gems

How to research Ruby gems

How to research gems

Summary

Ruby Metaprogramming

Metaprogramming introduction

How to integrate metaprogramming techniques into a custom class

How to use metaprogramming for opening and customizing the String class

How Rails use metaprogramming for the find_by method

Utilizing metaprogramming with method_missing to create methods on the fly

Why do we need to call super?

Resources

Incorporating respond_to_missing to conform to metaprogramming best practices

Resources

Implementing metaprogramming with define_method

Resources

Summary

Ruby Web Frameworks

Sinatra web framework development

Introduction to the Ruby on Rails framework

Summary

Working with APIs in Ruby

How to work with APIs in Ruby

How to use the httparty Ruby gem

How to create a custom API connector in Ruby

How to parse an API in Ruby

Summary

Ruby Algorithms

Introduction to sorting algorithms

Bubble sort

Quick sort

Merge sort

Implementing the bubble sort algorithm

Bubble sort code example

Implementing the quick sort algorithm

Explanation of quick sort

code example

Implementing the merge sort algorithm

Implementing a prime number counting algorithm

How to code the power digit sum algorithm

Implementing a humanize counting algorithm

Implementing a date algorithm

How to code a Fibonacci digit counter

Implementing a permutation algorithm

Implementing an amicable number algorithm

Implementing a factorial algorithm

Implementing an even Fibonacci number algorithm

Implementing the least common multiple

Summary

Machine Learning

Big data analysis

Basic decision tree implementation

Addition of attributes

Addition of training data and its values

Calling the ID3 method

Function of the train method

Addition of the test method

Setting up decision variables

Print the results out

Testing the program

Advantage of decision trees over if...else statements

How to develop a big data analysis application in Ruby

Summary

Preface

Coding has become one of the most critical skills you can have for furthering your career. Whether you are an experienced developer who wants to learn a new language or you are new to programming, this course can be your comprehensive Ruby coding guide. Starting with foundational principles, such as syntax and scaling up, to advanced topics, such as metaprogramming and big data analysis, I wanted to create a curriculum that will give you all the tools you need to be a professional Ruby developer. With over a decade of real-world development experience, I have engineered this book to ensure it focuses on the skills you will need to be a professional Ruby developer.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction to the Ruby Programming Language, gives a high-level view of the Ruby programming language, how to install it on your system, and getting it up and running so you can start building Ruby programs.

Chapter 2, Ruby Variables, teaches you how to work with variables in Ruby to store data and use the data throughout a program, because Ruby variables are the building blocks of just about every Ruby program.

Chapter 3, Ruby Strings, teaches about the Ruby string data type and walks you through how to integrate string data into a Ruby program. Working with words, sentences, and paragraphs are common requirements in many applications.

Chapter 4, Working with Numbers in Ruby, explains how to work with different number data types in a Ruby program, including the integer and float types. A key component in building programs is developing mathematical equations in order to implement various algorithms.

Chapter 5, Ruby Methods, teaches how to create and use methods in Ruby programs to store processes and reuse them throughout a program, including an overview of procs and lambdas. One of the most powerful tools available to developers is the ability to store functionality and share that behavior throughout a program.

Chapter 6, Ruby Iterators and Loops, works you through the powerful iteration tools that come with the Ruby programming language that allow you to traverse various collection types. When it comes to developing programs, one of the common tools utilized by programmers is the ability to loop through collections of data.

Chapter 7, Ruby Collections, shows that nearly every application that you will build will need to implement collections of data in some form or another. This could be anything from a database query that returns multiple records to a set of dates in a calendar.

Chapter 8, Ruby Conditionals, teaches how to integrate conditionals into a Ruby program, which will enable your programs to have dynamic behavior based on different input data. A key component for building dynamic behavior into Ruby applications requires conditional logic at some stage or another.

Chapter 9, Object-Oriented Programming in Ruby, teaches you Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) for Ruby, including creating classes, instantiating objects, working with inheritance, and polymorphism. In addition to readability, one of the defining attributes of the Ruby programming language is how it implements OOP techniques.

Chapter 10, Working with the Filesystem in Ruby, reveals various ways to work with files in Ruby, including the ability to create, open, edit, and delete files using built-in methods and classes.

Chapter 11, Error Handling in Ruby, explains how to work with errors in Ruby, including how to build practical tools such as an error logging program. Many new developers are intimidated when they come across errors and exceptions in a program. However, errors are Ruby's way of telling you how you can improve or alter your program to work properly.

Chapter 12, Regular Expressions in Ruby, enables you to work with regular expressions in Ruby, including the built in Regex class that allows you to build matchers and dynamically search through data. Pattern matching is a common requirement for building code libraries such as validations and basic search functionality.

Chapter 13, Searching with grep in Ruby, teaches how to use the powerful grep method in Ruby programs in order to search through data. Ruby offers a wide variety of options when it comes to searching through strings.

Chapter 14, Ruby Gems, walks you through and teaches what Ruby gems are, how to use them, and where you can find new gems to give your Ruby programs additional functionality. One of the reasons for Ruby's growth in popularity over the past decade is the open source community building code libraries that can be implemented in other applications. Typically, these code libraries are called Ruby gems.

Chapter 15, Ruby Metaprogramming, explains some of the basics of metaprogramming in Ruby, including how to open classes and add functionality to built-in Ruby classes. Writing code that writes code is one of the more challenging topics in any programming language. However, metaprogramming in Ruby offers such a powerful interface for building advanced features into an application. It is worth the effort to learn it.

Chapter 16, Ruby Web Frameworks, reveals the two most popular web frameworks for Ruby programs, Rails and Sinatra, including building applications for both frameworks.

Chapter 17, Working with APIs in Ruby, walks you through how to work with APIs and build a Ruby program that communicates with a third-party API and parses the JSON data. Working with outside services is a powerful mechanism for building data-driven applications.

Chapter 18, Ruby Algorithms, puts together all of the knowledge that we've compiled in the book in order to implement popular algorithms. Specifically, you'll learn how to build advanced algorithms in the Ruby programming language, including the sorting methods, such as quick sort and merge sort, along with a number of functional programming algorithms.

Chapter 19, Machine Learning, teaches how to integrate machine learning algorithms into a Ruby program, including how to build a decision tree, train it, and have it output dynamic results. One of the fastest growing sectors in development is machine learning.

What you need for this book

This course starts at the beginning with how to install Ruby and work with it on multiple machines, so simply have a computer that's connected to the internet and you'll be ready. I'll also show how to run Ruby programs in the browser, so you can work through this book on any operating system.

Who this book is for

This is a complete course written from the ground up for beginners wanting to gain a solid understanding of the Ruby language. It starts at the beginning with how to install Ruby and work with it on multiple machines, so simply have a computer that's connected to the Internet and you'll be ready.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: Now if I always want a string to be in lower case letters, I can use the downcase method, like this.

A block of code is set as follows:

When we wish