When is nil not false?

Rails
1

Can someone see what I cannot given this code?

class ForexCASource

def initialize(source=nil)
xchg_source unless source
puts “this is source = #{source} #{source.class}”
puts “do we get here? why?”
xchg_source(source)
end

fx = ForexCASource.new
this is source = NilClass
do we get here? why?
TypeError: can’t convert nil into String
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/open-uri.rb:32:in
open_uri_original_open' from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/open-uri.rb:32:inopen’
from
/home/byrnejb/Software/Development/Projects/proforma.git/app/services/forex_ca_source.rb:58:in
xchg_source' from /home/byrnejb/Software/Development/Projects/proforma.git/app/services/forex_ca_source.rb:52:ininitialize’
from (irb):1:in `new’
from (irb):1

2

James B. wrote:

xchg_source' from /home/byrnejb/Software/Development/Projects/proforma.git/app/services/forex_ca_source.rb:52:ininitialize’
from (irb):1:in `new’
from (irb):1

xchg_source unless source

This is a one-liner that just doesn’t call xchg_source if source is nil
(which it is in this case).

All other lines will execute normally so:

xchg_source(source) will call xchg_source with a nil value. Since you
haven’t posted the code for xchg_source it’s hard to tell what’s
happening in there.

did you mean:

  if !source
    puts "this is source = #{source} #{source.class}"
    puts "do we get here? why?"
    xchg_source(source)
  end

Cheers,
Gary,

3

James B. wrote:

Can someone see what I cannot given this code?

I need a return in front of the statement.

def initialize(source=nil)
return xchg_source unless source
xchg_source(source)
end

4

James B. wrote:

James B. wrote:

Can someone see what I cannot given this code?

I need a return in front of the statement.

def initialize(source=nil)
return xchg_source unless source
xchg_source(source)
end

Why not just let xchg_source deal with the nil then you just have:

def initialize(source=nil)
xchg_source(source)
end

protected # assuming this is not part of the public interface
def xchg_source(source)
if source
# whatever you do if source is given
else
# whatever should happen if source is nil
end
end

5

What about:
def initialize(source=nil)
source ? xchg_source(source) : xchg_source
end

Or if you prefer longer notation
def initialize(source=nil)
if source
xchg_source(source)
else
xchg_source
end

Or like in your example:
def initialize(source=nil)
return xchg_source unless source
xchg_source(source)
end

On Apr 17, 9:47 pm, James B. [email protected]

6

Robert W. wrote:

Why not just let xchg_source deal with the nil then you just have:

def initialize(source=nil)
xchg_source(source)
end

protected # assuming this is not part of the public interface

Ah, but it is public and if I pass a nil object to it then it fails, but
it does not fail if I pass it nothing at all, or if I pass it a string,
or a file object, etc. Odd, but there it is.