/programming-univbasics-4-nested-hashes-lab-online-web-prework

Primary LanguageRubyOtherNOASSERTION

Simple Nesting Lab

Learning Goals

  • Access data from a nested hash
  • Add data to and change data within a nested hash

Introduction

Now that we've seen some examples of nested hashes, the next step is to get more comfortable with using them. In this lab, we're going to practice accessing and updating data within a nested hash.

Instructions

You'll be filling out the content of a series of methods that we've defined for you. All of the methods expect you to operate on the programmer_hash object, which we've already defined and included in the body of each method. Use the test suite to guide you. Each test is designed to tell you how to pass it.

Keep in mind that you are expected to get these tests to pass by adding or changing information in the hash programmatically. In other words, if you're asked to, for example, change the value of a certain hash key, don't just re-write the hash with the new value! Use the methods we've learned and practiced in previous lessons.

To quickly review, here is an example of adding data to a hash programmatically:

# good example

my_hash = {first: "I'm first!", second: "I'm second!"}
my_hash[:third] = "I'm third!"

puts my_hash
# > {first: "I'm first!", second: "I'm second!", third: "I'm third!"}

Changing a hash by simply re-defining it is not the goal of this lab:

# bad example

my_hash = {first: "I'm first!", second: "I'm second!"}
my_hash = {first: "I'm first!", second: "I'm second!", third: "I'm third!"}

Hint: In some of these methods, you will need to alter programmer_hash, then make sure to return the entire hash, not just the altered value.

Conclusion

Adding and updating data in a nested hash is just like adding and updating a normal hash. If we know the structure, it is just a matter of using the right combination of keys.

As we see examples of more complex data structures, we'll start to encounter situations where we aren't 100% of the structure of a hash. This is one reason why getting familiar with programmatically changing hash data is critical - we won't always be able to see the hash we're changing. Instead, we'll have to write logic that and correctly handles accessing and updating hash data in a more abstracted way.