How to push keys and values into an empty hash w/ Ruby?

Question

I have a dictionary class and want to be able to push keys (as keywords) and values (as definitions) into an empty hash with an \'add\' method. I don\'t understand how to syntac

Answer 1

Looking at your Rspec, It looks like you need this setup.

class Dictionary
  def initialize
    @hash = {}
  end

  def add(key_value)
    key_value.each do |key, value|
      @hash[key] = value
    end
  end

  def entries
     @hash
  end

  def keywords
     @hash.keys
  end

end

Do not use key.to_sym in add method, just key

To give flexibility to add method, I can return the self object to continuesly add.

def add(key_value)
  key_value.each do |key, value|
    @hash[key] = value
  end
  self
end

So, I can do this now.

@d.add("a" => "apple").add("b" => "bat")

Answer 2

Instantiate your hash in Dictionary's initialize:

class Dictionary
  def initialize
    @hash = {}
  end

  def add(defs)
    defs.each do |word, definition|
      @hash[word] = definition
    end
  end
end

Right now you have no hash until you call entries, which you don't.

entries should return the existing hash, not create a new one.

keywords should return the hash's keys.

You do not need accessors for keyword and definition. Such singular items are meaningless in a dictionary class. You might want something like lookup(word) that returned a definition.

Also, you convert words to symbols, but I don't know why–particularly since you use string keys in your spec. Pick one, although I'm not convinced this is a case where symbols add value.

Please consider variable naming carefully to provide as much context as possible.