Ruby: methods as array elements - how do they work?

Question

This probably isn\'t something you should try at home, but for some reason or another I tried to create an array of methods in Ruby.

I started by defining two methods.

Answer 1

Here's my two-pennies worth. Building on the solutions already posted, this is an example of a working example. What might be handy for some here is that it includes method arguments and the use of self (which refers to the instance of the PromotionalRules class when it is instantiated) and the array of symbols, which is neat - I got that from the Ruby docs on the #send method here. Hope this helps someone!

class PromotionalRules
  PROMOTIONS = [:lavender_heart_promotion, :ten_percent_discount]

  def apply_promotions total, basket
    @total = total

    if PROMOTIONS.count > 0
      PROMOTIONS.each { |promotion| @total = self.send promotion, @total, basket }
    end

    @total.round(2)
  end

  def lavender_heart_promotion total, basket
    if two_or_more_lavender_hearts? basket
      basket.map { |item| total -= 0.75 if item == 001 }
    end
    total
  end

  def two_or_more_lavender_hearts? basket
    n = 0
    basket.each do |item|
      n += 1 if item == 001
    end
    n >= 2
  end

  def ten_percent_discount total, *arg
    if total > 60.00
      total = total - total/10
    end
    total
  end
end

Thanks to everyone for their help. I love the open-source nature of coding - threads just get better and better as people iterate over each other's solutions!