Project: Ruby-style-guide

Publisher: Womply

collections

Prefer literal array and hash creation notation (unless you need to
pass parameters to their constructors, that is).
```
# bad
arr = Array.new
hash = Hash.new

# good
arr = []
hash = {}
```
Prefer %w to the literal array syntax when you need an array of
words (non-empty strings without spaces and special characters in them).
Apply this rule only to arrays with two or more elements.
```
# bad
STATES = ['draft', 'open', 'closed']

# good
STATES = %w(draft open closed)
```
Prefer %i to the literal array syntax when you need an array of
symbols (and you don't need to maintain Ruby 1.9 compatibility). Apply
this rule only to arrays with two or more elements.
```
# bad
STATES = [:draft, :open, :closed]

# good
STATES = %i(draft open closed)
```

Avoid comma after the last item of an Array or Hash literal, especially
when the items are not on separate lines.

# bad - easier to move/add/remove items, but still not preferred
VALUES = [
           1001,
           2020,
           3333,
         ]

# bad
VALUES = [1001, 2020, 3333, ]

# good
VALUES = [1001, 2020, 3333]

Avoid the creation of huge gaps in arrays.

arr = []
arr[100] = 1 # now you have an array with lots of nils

When accessing the first or last element from an array, prefer first or last over [0] or [-1].
Use Set instead of Array when dealing with unique elements. Set
implements a collection of unordered values with no duplicates. This
is a hybrid of Array's intuitive inter-operation facilities and
Hash's fast lookup.

Prefer symbols instead of strings as hash keys.

# bad
hash = { 'one' => 1, 'two' => 2, 'three' => 3 }

# good
hash = { one: 1, two: 2, three: 3 }

Avoid the use of mutable objects as hash keys.

Use the Ruby 1.9 hash literal syntax when your hash keys are symbols.

# bad
hash = { :one => 1, :two => 2, :three => 3 }

# good
hash = { one: 1, two: 2, three: 3 }

Don't mix the Ruby 1.9 hash syntax with hash rockets in the same
hash literal. When you've got keys that are not symbols stick to the
hash rockets syntax.
```
# bad
{ a: 1, 'b' => 2 }

# good
{ :a => 1, 'b' => 2 }
```
Use Hash#key? instead of Hash#has_key? and Hash#value? instead
of Hash#has_value?. As noted
here
by Matz, the longer forms are considered deprecated.
```
# bad
hash.has_key?(:test)
hash.has_value?(value)

# good
hash.key?(:test)
hash.value?(value)
```

Use Hash#fetch when dealing with hash keys that should be present.

heroes = { batman: 'Bruce Wayne', superman: 'Clark Kent' }
# bad - if we make a mistake we might not spot it right away
heroes[:batman] # => "Bruce Wayne"
heroes[:supermann] # => nil

# good - fetch raises a KeyError making the problem obvious
heroes.fetch(:supermann)

Introduce default values for hash keys via Hash#fetch as opposed to using custom logic.

batman = { name: 'Bruce Wayne', is_evil: false }

# bad - if we just use || operator with falsy value we won't get the expected result
batman[:is_evil] || true # => true

# good - fetch work correctly with falsy values
batman.fetch(:is_evil, true) # => false

Prefer the use of the block instead of the default value in Hash#fetch.

batman = { name: 'Bruce Wayne' }

# bad - if we use the default value, we eager evaluate it
# so it can slow the program down if done multiple times
batman.fetch(:powers, get_batman_powers) # get_batman_powers is an expensive call

# good - blocks are lazy evaluated, so only triggered in case of KeyError exception
batman.fetch(:powers) { get_batman_powers }

Use Hash#values_at when you need to retrieve several values consecutively from a hash.

# bad
email = data['email']
nickname = data['nickname']

# good
email, username = data.values_at('email', 'nickname')

Rely on the fact that as of Ruby 1.9 hashes are ordered.
Never modify a collection while traversing it.

Last published over 6 years ago by David Kariuki.

collections

Ruby-style-guide settings