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Andrew Walters
8,876 Pointsto_s formatting
Hey guys. In the "Build an address book" course in the Ruby track, we override the to_s method and pass along the format principle def to_s(format = "short") end for example. What does the format do? What kinds of options do we have with it? Thanks!
2 Answers
gunnargabrielson
4,652 PointsShort is the default argument value for the method. Format is just a variable and could be anything. You could put options = "short", or frmt = "short" and it would work the same so long as your case statement inside the method mirrors that variable name (case format, case options, case frmt) Having a default argument like this allows you to call the method without providing any arguments. IE: puts address_book.to_s and still get something in return.
This is how I understand it at this point anyway. :)
Andrew Walters
8,876 PointsThanks to the both of you, this made the most sense to me :)
jason phillips
18,131 Points"short" is a default value for format if you don't specify a value for it. Calling to_s() the value of format would be "short". Calling to_s("long") the value of format will be "long"
Andrew Walters
8,876 PointsBut what does format itself mean?
rowend rowend
2,926 PointsAndrew Walters it can mean anything depending of your context. This is a simple method with a simple argument given by the programmer. In this case this says: hey displays the information in short or long format.
Emily Coltman
Courses Plus Student 9,623 PointsEmily Coltman
Courses Plus Student 9,623 PointsCould I also please ask what's behind using "to_s" as a method when it already exists by default? Why not simply give the new method another name? To me it feels confusing to redefine / override "to_s". What's the rationale behind that, please?