I was working with the each_with_index Enumerator on Ruby 1.9.3 and I stumbled on a strange behavior.
Let’s take a look at 2 examples:
>> %w{Bob Roger Joe}.each_with_index.select{|*args| puts args.inspect}
[["Bob", 0]]
[["Roger", 1]]
[["Joe", 2]]
>> %w{Bob Roger Joe}.each_with_index.map{|*args| puts args.inspect}
["Bob", 0]
["Roger", 1]
["Joe", 2]
The select block passes one argument which is an array containing the object and the index. However, map passes two arguments: the object being interated on and the index.
If we look at the Enumerable#map documentation, we read that the block needs one argument: obj. So we can intuitively think that in the case of each_with_index, the obj would be an array containing the object iterated on and the index. But it’s clearly not the case.
Since map and select methods are implemented in the Enumerable module using the each method, let’s get a look a the Eumerator#each
>> %w{Bob Roger Joe}.each_with_index.each { |*args| puts args.inspect }
["Bob", 0]
["Roger", 1]
["Joe", 2]
As we can see, the each method that the Enumerable module uses can have any number of block arguments. I imagine that under the hood map uses the splat operator.
Let’s create our own Enumerable class:
class MyEnumerable
include Enumerable
def each
3.times { yield 1, 2, 3, 4 }
end
end
enum = MyEnumerable.new
enum.map { |*args| puts args.inspect }
[1, 2, 3, 4]
[1, 2, 3, 4]
[1, 2, 3, 4]
[1, 2, 3, 4]
The big question is: Which Enumerable methods behave like the map method? Lets calculate the number of arguments of some Enumerable methods that are using a each method that uses 1 and 2 block arguments.
enum_methods = %w{inject map select count find group_by flat_map drop_while each_entry detect find_index max_by min_by minmax none? one? partition reject reverse_each sort_by}
nb_args = enum_methods.inject({}) do |memo, method|
memo[method] ||= {}
proc1 = Proc.new { |*args| memo[method][:each_with_1_arg] = args.length }
[1,2].send(method, &proc1) rescue nil
proc2 = Proc.new{ |*args| memo[method][:each_with_2_arg] = args.length }
[1,2].each_with_index.send(method, &proc2) rescue nil
memo
end
puts nb_args.to_yaml
---
inject:
:each_with_1_arg: 2
:each_with_2_arg: 2
map:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 2
select:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
count:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 2
find:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
group_by:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
flat_map:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 2
drop_while:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
each_entry:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
detect:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
find_index:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 2
max_by:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
min_by:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
minmax:
:each_with_1_arg: 2
:each_with_2_arg: 2
none?:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 2
one?:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 2
partition:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
reject:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
reverse_each:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
sort_by:
:each_with_1_arg: 1
:each_with_2_arg: 1
The methods that behave differently with a each block with 2 arguments than with 1 argument are: map, count, flat_map, find_index, none?, one?. Which is 7 methods out of 20. How can we remember those?
If you run the last script on Ruby 1.8.7 you will see that the map method and its friends are not splatting the arguments.
I am trying to find the logic in those changes in Enumerable but I don’t find any. So do you think like me that Enumerable is broken?