Ruby for C# Developers

Ruby for C# Developers
St. Louis
Code Camp

May 6th, 2006

Cory Foy
http://www.cornetdesign.com
St. Louis Code Camp Ruby for C# Developers Cory Foy
May 6th, 2006 http://www.cornetdesign.com

Overview
• What is Ruby?
• Ruby Basics
• Advanced Ruby
• Ruby and .NET integration
• Wrap-up


What is Ruby?
• First released in 1995 by Yukihiro
Matsumoto (Matz)
• Object-Oriented
– number = 1.abs #instead of Math.abs(1)
• Dynamically Typed
– result = 1+3


What is Ruby?
class Person
attr_accessor :name, :age # attributes we can set and retrieve
def initialize(name, age) # constructor method
@name = name # store name and age for later retrieval
@age = age.to_i # (store age as integer)
end
def inspect # This method retrieves saved values
"#@name (#@age)" # in a readable format
end
end

p1 = Person.new('elmo', 4) # elmo is the name, 4 is the age
puts p1.inspect # prints “elmo (4)”

• http://www.rubygarden.org/faq/entry/show/3


Will It Change Your Life?
• Yes!
• Ok, Maybe
• It’s fun to program with
• And what is programming if it isn’t fun?


Ruby Basics
• Variables, Classes and Methods
• Properties / Attributes
• Exceptions
• Access Control
• Importing Files and Libraries
• Duck Typing


Ruby Basics - Variables
• Local (lowercase, underscores)
– fred_j = Person.new(“Fred”)
• Instance (@ sign with lowercase)
– @name = name
• Class (@@ with lowercase)
– @@error_email = “testing@test.com”
• Constant (Starts with uppercase)
– MY_PI = 3.14
– class Move
• Global ($ with name)
– $MEANING_OF_LIFE = 42


Ruby Basics - Classes
class Move
attr_accessor :up, :right

def initialize(up, right)
@up = up
@right = right
end
end

• Class definitions are started with
class,are named with a CamelCase
name, and ended with end

class Move

@up = up
@right = right
end
end

• Attributes and fields normally go at the
beginning of the class definition


class Move

@up = up
@right = right
end
end

• initialize is the same concept as a
constructor from .NET or Java, and is called
when someone invokes your object using
Move.new to set up the object’s state

Ruby Basics - Methods
class Move
def up
@up
end

def right
return @right
end
end

• Methods return the last expression
evaluated. You can also explicitly return from
methods

class Move
@up = up
@right = right
end
end

• Methods can take in specified
parameters, and also parameter lists
(using special notation)


class Move
def self.create
return Move.new
end

def Move.logger
return @@logger
end
end

• Class (“Static”) methods start with
either self. or Class.

Ruby Basics - Properties
• Like .NET, Ruby supports the concept
of Properties (called Attributes)
class Move class Move
def up def up=(val)
@up @up = val
end end
end end

move = Move.new
move.up = 15
puts move.up #15


• Unlike .NET, Ruby provides
convenience methods for doing this
class Move
attr_accessor :up #Same thing as last slide
end
move = Move.new
move.up = 15
puts move.up #15


• You can specify read or write only
attributes as well
class Move
attr_reader :up #Can’t write
attr_writer :down #Can’t read
end

move = Move.new
move.up = 15 #error
d = move.down #error


Ruby Basics - Exceptions
• Ruby has an Exception hierarchy
• Exceptions can be caught, raised and
handled
• You can also easily retry a block of
code when you encounter an exception


Ruby Basics - Exceptions
process_file = File.open(“testfile.csv”)

begin #put exceptional code in begin/end block
#...process file
rescue IOError => io_error
puts “IOException occurred. Retrying.”
retry #starts block over from begin
rescue => other_error
puts “Bad stuff happened: “ + other_error
else #happens if no exceptions occur
puts “No errors in processing. Yippee!”
ensure # similar to finally in .NET/Java
process_file.close unless process_file.nil?
end


Ruby Basics – Access Control
• Ruby supports Public, Protected and
Private methods
• Private methods can only be accessed
from the instance of the object, not
from any other object, even those of
the same class as the instance


• Access is controlled by using keywords
class Move
private
def calculate_move
end
#Any subsequent methods will be private until..
public
def show_move
end
#Any subsequent methods will now be public
end


• Methods can also be passed as args
class Move
def calculate_move
end

def show_move
end

public :show_move
protected :calculate_move
end


Ruby Basics - Imports
• To use a class from another file in your
class, you must tell your source file
where to find the class you want to use
require ‘calculator’
class Move
def calculate_move
return @up * Calculator::MIN_MOVE
end
end


Ruby Basics - Imports
• There are two types of imports
– require
• Only loads the file once
– load
• Loads the file every time the method is executed
• Both accept relative and absolute paths, and
will search the current load path for the file


Ruby Basics – Duck Typing
• What defines an object?
• How can you tell a car is a car?
– By model?
– By name?
• Or, by it’s behavior?


class CarWash
def accept_customer(car)
• How would we
end
validate this
end in .NET or Java?
• We’d use static typing! So only the
valid object could be passed in
• What if my object has the same
behavior as a Car?

• What is
this?


• How
about
this?


• What
about
this?


• We know objects based on the
behaviors and attributes the object
possesses
• This means if the object passed in can
act like the object we want, that should
be good enough for us!


Class CarWash
def accept_customer(car)
if car.respond_to?(:drive_to)
@car = car
wash_car
else
reject_customer
end
end
end

• Or we could just let it fail as a runtime
error

Ruby Basics – Unit Tests
• In a static-typed language, how do we
use the compiler?
– Find misspellings
– Find improper usage
– Enforce contracts
– Find missing semicolons


• What is a Unit Test?
• “In computer programming, a unit test
is a procedure used to validate that a
particular module of source code is
working properly.” (Wikipedia)
• Sounds like our compiler is just a unit
testing mechanism!

• Ruby comes built in with a Unit Testing
framework – Test::Unit
– Create individual tests
– Create test suites
– Invoke our tests and suites
• Using this framework and Test-Driven
Development, we can have a high
confidence level in our code

• Let’s build a toaster!
• Should be able to have
toasting levels set
• Should heat the bread based on
the toasting levels
• Different breads have different
cooking times.

• Let’s start with a basic test
class TestToaster < Test::Unit::TestCase
def test_toast_bread
toaster = Toaster.new
bread = WonderBread.new
toaster.heat_level = 5
toaster.toast(bread)
assert_equal(“Nicely toasted”, bread.status)
end
end


• And run it
root@dilbert $ruby testtoaster.rb
Loaded suite testtoaster
Started
E
Finished in 0.0 seconds.

1) Error:
test_toast_bread(TestToaster):
NameError: uninitialized constant TestToaster::Toaster
testtoaster.rb:4:in `test_toast_bread'

1 tests, 0 assertions, 0 failures, 1 errors


• Next, let’s build our objects to allow our
test to run
class Toaster class WonderBread
attr_accessor :heat_level attr_accessor :status
end
def toast(bread)

end
end


• And run them
Started
F

1) Failure:
test_toast_bread(TestToaster) [testtoaster.rb:10]:
<"Nicely toasted"> expected but was
<nil>.



• Finally, let’s make the test pass
class Toaster
def toast(bread)
bread.status = “Nicely toasted”
end
end
Started
.



• We then keep writing tests to drive the
behavior of the code we want to write
• A side benefit is we get a suite of
regression tests for our code


• How did the compiler help us again?
– Find misspellings (Unit Tests)
– Find improper usage (Unit Tests)
– Enforce contracts (Duck Typing)
– Find missing semicolons (No
semicolons! ;))


Advanced Ruby - Modules
• Blocks and Iterators
• Modules
• Mixins / Inheritance
• Reflection
• Other Goodies


Advanced Ruby - Blocks
• A block is just a section of code
between a set of delimters – { } or
do..end
{ puts “Ho” }

3.times do
puts “Ho “
end #prints “Ho Ho Ho”


• Blocks can be associated with method invocations.
The methods call the block using yield
def format_print
puts “Confidential. Do Not Disseminate.”
yield
puts “© SomeCorp, 2006”
end

format_print { puts “My name is Earl!” }
-> Confidential. Do Not Disseminate.
-> My name is Earl!
-> © SomeCorp, 2006


• Methods can act like the using statement from
.NET using blocks
def MyConnection.open(*args)
conn = Connection.open(*args)
if block_given?
yield conn #passes conn to the block
conn.close #closes conn when block finishes
end

return conn
end


Advanced Ruby - Iterators
• Iterators in Ruby are simply methods
that can invoke a block of code
• Iterators typically pass one or more
values to the block to be evaluated


Advanced Ruby - Iterators
def fib_up_to(max)
i1, i2 = 1, 1
while i1 <= max
yield i1
i1, i2 = i2, i1+i2 # parallel assignment
end
end

fib_up_to(100) {|f| print f + “ “}

-> 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89
• Pickaxe Book, page 50


Advanced Ruby - Modules
• At their core, Modules are like
namespaces in .NET or Java.
module Kite
def Kite.fly
end
end

module Plane
def Plane.fly
end
end


Advanced Ruby - Mixins
• Modules can’t have instances – they
aren’t classes
• But Modules can be included in
classes, who inherit all of the instance
method definitions from the module
• This is called a mixin and is how Ruby
does “Multiple Inheritance”

Advanced Ruby - Mixins
module Print
def print
puts “Company Confidential”
yield
end
end

class Document
include Print
#...
end

doc = Document.new
doc.print { “Fourth Quarter looks great!” }
-> Company Confidential
-> Fourth Quarter looks great!


Advanced Ruby - Reflection
• How could we call the Length of a
String at runtime in .NET?
String myString = "test";
int len = (int)myString
.GetType()
.InvokeMember("Length",
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.GetProperty,
null, myString, null);
Console.WriteLine("Length: " + len.ToString());


• In Ruby, we can just send the
command to the object
myString = “Test”
puts myString.send(:length) # 4


• We can also do all kinds of fancy stuff
#print out all of the objects in our system
ObjectSpace.each_object(Class) {|c| puts c}

#Get all the methods on an object
“Some String”.methods

#see if an object responds to a certain method
obj.respond_to?(:length)

#see if an object is a type
obj.kind_of?(Numeric)
obj.instance_of?(FixNum)

Ruby Basics – Other Goodies
• RubyGems – Package Management for
Ruby Libraries
• Rake – A Pure Ruby build tool (can use
XML as well for the build files)
• RDoc – Automatically extracts
documentation from your code and
comments

Ruby and .NET
• Why?
– Provide Scripting ability in your apps
– Quickly prototype
– Class Introspection
• What about JScript.NET?
– Ruby is cross platform
– JScript might be better choice

Ruby and .NET
• Three projects in the works
• Ruby to .NET Bridge
– http://rubydotnet.sourceforge.net/
• MS Funded Ruby CLR project
– http://www.plas.fit.qut.edu.au/rubynet/
• RubyCLR
– http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubyclr

Ruby and .NET
• Bridge Example
– Basic Arrays
– Interacting with Objects
– Creating Forms
– Attaching to Events


Ruby Resources
• Programming Ruby by Dave Thomas (the
Pickaxe Book)
• http://www.ruby-lang.org
• http://www.rubyforge.org
• http://www.rubycentral.org
• http://www.ruby-doc.org
• http://www.rubygarden.org
• http://www.stlruby.org

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