Ruby loops and definitions help?

Ruby
#1

Hello. I’m looking to construct a loop that defines an array of [apple,
banana, cherry] like this:

@apple = apple
@banana = banana
@cherry = cherry

I’m thinking it’s something in this form:

[apple, banana, cherry].each do |attribute|
@attribute = attribute
end

…but I have no idea what belongs in place of the attribute. Does
anyone know?

#2

Bob S. [email protected] writes:

@attribute = attribute
end

…but I have no idea what belongs in place of the attribute. Does
anyone know?

Yes. The objects in ruby do know if and when, how. You must ask them!
For example, using ri(1).

irb(main):001:0> (ri “Object”)

---------------------------------------------------------- Class: Object
+Object+ is the parent class of all classes in Ruby. Its methods
are therefore available to all objects unless explicitly
overridden.

 +Object+ mixes in the +Kernel+ module, making the built-in kernel
 functions globally accessible. Although the instance methods of
 +Object+ are defined by the +Kernel+ module, we have chosen to
 document them here for clarity.

 In the descriptions of Object's methods, the parameter _symbol_
 refers to a symbol, which is either a quoted string or a +Symbol+
 (such as +:name+).

Includes:

 Kernel(Array, Float, Integer, Pathname, String, URI, `, abort,
 at_exit, autoload, autoload?, binding, block_given?, callcc,
 caller, catch, chomp, chomp!, chop, chop!, eval, exec, exit, exit!,
 fail, fork, format, getc, gets, global_variables, gsub, gsub!,
 iterator?, lambda, load, local_variables, loop, method_missing,
 open, open, open_uri_original_open, p, pp, pretty_inspect, print,
 printf, proc, putc, puts, raise, rand, readline, readlines,
 require, scan, scanf, select, set_trace_func, sleep, split,
 sprintf, srand, sub, sub!, syscall, system, test, throw, trace_var,
 trap, untrace_var, warn, warn, y), PP::ObjectMixin(pretty_print,
 pretty_print_cycle, pretty_print_inspect,
 pretty_print_instance_variables)

Constants:

 MatchingData:      rb_cMatch
 ENV:               envtbl
 ENV:               envtbl
 TOPLEVEL_BINDING:  rb_f_binding(ruby_top_self)
 STDIN:             rb_stdin
 STDOUT:            rb_stdout
 STDERR:            rb_stderr
 ARGF:              argf
 NIL:               Qnil
 TRUE:              Qtrue
 FALSE:             Qfalse
 DATA:              f
 ARGV:              rb_argv
 RUBY_VERSION:      v
 RUBY_RELEASE_DATE: d
 RUBY_PLATFORM:     p
 RUBY_PATCHLEVEL:   INT2FIX(RUBY_PATCHLEVEL)
 VERSION:           v
 RELEASE_DATE:      d
 PLATFORM:          p
 IPsocket:          rb_cIPSocket
 TCPsocket:         rb_cTCPSocket
 SOCKSsocket:       rb_cSOCKSSocket
 TCPserver:         rb_cTCPServer
 UDPsocket:         rb_cUDPSocket
 UNIXsocket:        rb_cUNIXSocket
 UNIXserver:        rb_cUNIXServer

Class methods:

 new

Instance methods:

 ==, ===, =~, __id__, __send__, class, clone, dclone, display, dup,
 enum_for, eql?, equal?, extend, freeze, frozen?, hash, id, inspect,
 instance_eval, instance_of?, instance_variable_get,
 instance_variable_get, instance_variable_set,
 instance_variable_set, instance_variables, is_a?, kind_of?, method,
 methods, nil?, object_id, private_methods, protected_methods,
 public_methods, remove_instance_variable, respond_to?, send,
 singleton_method_added, singleton_method_removed,
 singleton_method_undefined, singleton_methods, taint, tainted?,
 to_a, to_enum, to_s, to_yaml, to_yaml_properties, to_yaml_style,
 type, untaint

nil
irb(main):002:0> (ri “Object.instance_variable_set”)

------------------------------------------- Object#instance_variable_set
obj.instance_variable_set(symbol, obj) => obj

 Sets the instance variable names by _symbol_ to _object_, thereby
 frustrating the efforts of the class's author to attempt to provide
 proper encapsulation. The variable did not have to exist prior to
 this call.

    class Fred
      def initialize(p1, p2)
        @a, @b = p1, p2
      end
    end
    fred = Fred.new('cat', 99)
    fred.instance_variable_set(:@a, 'dog')   #=> "dog"
    fred.instance_variable_set(:@c, 'cat')   #=> "cat"
    fred.inspect                             #=> "#<Fred:0x401b3da8

@a=“dog”, @b=99, @c=“cat”>"

nil
irb(main):003:0> ( [“apple”,“banana”,“cherry”] . each { | attribute |
(self . instance_variable_set( (("@" + attribute) . to_sym) ,
attribute)) } )
[“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”]
irb(main):004:0> @apple
“apple”
irb(main):005:0> @banana
“banana”
irb(main):006:0> @cherry
“cherry”
irb(main):007:0> @pear
nil
irb(main):008:0>

That said, an array like [apple, banana, cherry] will actually be an
array such as [“value of apple”, 42, [“the”,:value,0,“cherry”]].
If you want to build an array containing the name of the variable,
then you have to make an array of symbols:
[:apple,:banana,:cherry].

Then you will have to write:

irb(main):018:0> (begin
(apple = “value of apple”)
(banana = 42)
(cherry = [“the”,:value,0,“cherry”])
( [:apple,:banana,:cherry] . each { | variable |
(self . instance_variable_set( (("@" + (variable . to_s)) . to_sym) ,
(eval
(variable . to_s)))) })
end)
[:apple, :banana, :cherry]
irb(main):025:0> @apple
“value of apple”
irb(main):026:0> @banana
42
irb(main):027:0> @cherry
[“the”, :value, 0, “cherry”]
irb(main):028:0>