3_group_research_methods

Week 4 Home

#U2.W4: Group Challenge: Research Methods

Learning Objectives

• Find and use built-in Ruby methods to solve challenges
• Iterate through data structures and manipulate the content
• Explain how to use an existing ruby method

Summary

I'm sure many of you have looked through the Ruby Docs and had some difficulty trying to figure out what methods do and how they work. You have probably also seen some people using methods you didn't know existed when you looked through other solutions. In this challenge, you will practice reading through the docs to find existing enumerable methods and use them on Arrays and Hashes.

Research and test these methods out thoroughly. You may want to play around with them in IRB to figure out exactly how they work before you can implement them properly.

Release 0:

Refer to your accountability group spreadsheet to find your role.

Each person has a challenge to solve. This does not need to be done in any order. (NOTE: the driver code needs each method in order to be correct, however).

Using the Ruby Docs find one method you can use on both an array and a hash, and use it on the two structures to complete the goal.

Once you complete your challenge, Identify and describe the ruby method you implemented. Teach your accountability group how to use them.

Each person will be working with the following Array and Hash:

i_want_pets = ["I", "want", 3, "pets", "but", "I", "only", "have", 2, ":(." ]
my_family_pets_ages = {"Evi" => 6, "Hoobie" => 3, "George" => 12, "Bogart" => 4, "Poly" => 4, 
  "Annabelle" => 0, "Ditto" => 3}

Person 1: Find Matching Data

Create a method my_array_finding_method that takes an Array and a letter as arguments and returns the words that contain that letter.

For example:

my_array_finding_method(i_want_pets, "t") #=> should return ["want","pets","but"]

Create a method my_hash_finding_method that takes a Hash and number as arguments and returns a list of pet names by age. Ex.

my_hash_finding_method(my_family_pets_ages, 3) #=> should return ["Hoobie", "Ditto"]

Person 2: Modify Existing Data

Two years have passed since I made these, so they need to be updated. HINT: the actual data structures need to be modified I recently got a new pet, but I still want another! Create a my_array_modification_method that takes an array and number to be added to all internal numbers. (Because you can never have too many pets!) For example:

my_array_modification_method(i_want_pets, 1) 
#=> ["I", "want", 4, "pets", "but", "I", "only", "have", 3, ":(." ] 

Then create a method that updates the ages in the hash. For Example:

my_hash_modification_method(my_family_pets_ages, 2) 
#=> {"Evi" => 8, "Hoobie" => 5, "George" => 14, "Bogart" => 6, "Poly" => 6, "Annabelle" => 2, "Ditto" => 5}

Person 3: Sort Data

I want to create a sorting method that alphabetizes an array. I also want to create a sorting method that arranges the data in my hash by age (starting with the youngest first). This should not modify the existing data structure.

my_array_sorting_method(i_want_pets, "pets") #=>
["3", "4", "I", "but", "have", "only", "pets", "want"]

my_hash_sorting_method(my_family_pets_ages, age) #=>
[["Annabelle", 2], ["Ditto", 5], ["Hoobie", 5], ["Bogart", 6], ["Poly", 6], ["Evi", 8], ["George", 14]] 
# This may be false depending on how your method deals with ordering the animals with the same ages.

Person 4: Delete Matching Data

Sometimes you no longer need data that matches something. Create a my_array_deletion_method that takes an array and a letter, and deletes all the strings that contain that letter. This should modify the existing structure. For example:

my_deletion_method(i_want_pets, "a") 
#=> ["I", 4, "pets", "but", "I", "only", 3, ":(." ]

Poor George passed away. He had a good life, but I need to remove him from my list.

my_deletion_method(my_family_pets_ages, "George") 
#=> {"Evi" => 8, "Hoobie" => 5, "Bogart" => 6, "Poly" => 6, "Annabelle" => 2, "Ditto" => 5}

Release 1: Sync your solutions and grab others!

Sync your solutions to your repo on GitHub, then find your accountability groups' solutions. Review them. Which existing methods did they use? Try to use them based on the instructions your group-mate included.

Release 2: Reflect

Use the reflection guidelines and also discuss the following in the reflection section of the my_solution file: What did you learn about researching and explaining your research to others?