Fetching objects used as hash keys

Ruby
1

Hello

I’m using objects which are instances of a class that has 3 instance
variables as hash keys, but I’m using the value of only two of those
instance variables for the hash calculation. It’s something like this:

class A
attr_reader :x, :y, :z

def initialize(x, y)
@x = x
@y = y
@z = rand
end

def hash
@x.hash ^ @y.hash
end

def eql?(other)
@x == other.x and @y == other.y
end
end

a1 = A.new(‘foo’, ‘bar’) # say @z = 0.25 here
a2 = A.new(‘foo’, ‘bar’) # say @z = 0.90 here

h = {}
h[a1] = true
p h[a2] #=> true

I did it this way because when I need to test the presence of an object
in the hash, the value of @z is not known (and doesn’t matter). However,
once I know the object is there, I’d like to fetch it, and check the
value of @z of the object that was used as the hash key, that is, I’d
like to get “0.25” in the example above.

What I had to do was use a hash of hashes instead, so I currently I have

h = {}
x = ‘foo’
h[x] = {
:y => ‘bar’
:z => rand
}

So I’m guessing maybe a hash isn’t the correct data structure to do what
I want here (i.e., fetch an object based on some of its attributes).
Anyone has suggestions on how I could implement that, if possible
keeping the efficiency of a hash access?

Thanks in advance,
Andre

2

On 6 feb, 16:04, Andre N. [email protected] wrote:

@x = x

end
end

a1 = A.new(‘foo’, ‘bar’) # say @z = 0.25 here
a2 = A.new(‘foo’, ‘bar’) # say @z = 0.90 here

h = {}
h[a1] = true
p h[a2] #=> true

Okay, your explanation does not make much sense. But… if @z is not
needed and you want it to be returned as the hash value, why is it in
the class? Make that the hash value, like:

h = {}
h[a1] = rand
p h[a2]

0.25

should give you what you want. If you do want it in the class, then
you don’t need a hash. Just doing a1.z should give you back what you
want.
If you need it in both, pass it around when you create it, like:

h = {}
[ a1, a2 ]. each { |key|
z = h[key] || rand
h[key] = z
key.z = z # make z attr_accessor, not attr_reader of
course
}

Or did I miss something?

3

On 2/6/07, Andre N. [email protected] wrote:

So I’m guessing maybe a hash isn’t the correct data structure to do what
I want here (i.e., fetch an object based on some of its attributes).
Anyone has suggestions on how I could implement that, if possible
keeping the efficiency of a hash access?

You probably want a set.

require “set”

class A
attr_reader :x, :y, :z

def initialize(x, y, z = rand)
@x = x
@y = y
@z = z
end

def hash
@x.hash ^ @y.hash
end

def eql?(other)
@x == other.x and @y == other.y
end
end

a1 = A.new(‘foo’, ‘bar’) # say @z = 0.25 here
puts “a1.z: #{a1.z}”
a2 = A.new(‘foo’, ‘bar’) # say @z = 0.90 here
puts “a2.z: #{a2.z}”

s = Set.new [a1]
p s
s.add(a2)
p s
p s.include?(a2)
p s.find { |m| m.eql?(a2) }.z

Make it nicer:

def s.[] (lookup)
self.find {|elem| elem.eql?(lookup) }
end

p s[a2].z

Hope that helps

pth