lujanfernaud's solution to Robot Name on the Ruby track

Instructions

Test suite

Solution

Note:

This solution was written on an old version of Exercism. The tests below might not correspond to the solution code, and the exercise may have changed since this code was written.

Manage robot factory settings.

When robots come off the factory floor, they have no name.

The first time you boot them up, a random name is generated in the format of two uppercase letters followed by three digits, such as RX837 or BC811.

Every once in a while we need to reset a robot to its factory settings, which means that their name gets wiped. The next time you ask, it will respond with a new random name.

The names must be random: they should not follow a predictable sequence. Random names means a risk of collisions. Your solution must ensure that every existing robot has a unique name.

In order to make this easier to test, your solution will need to implement a Robot.forget method that clears any shared state that might exist to track duplicate robot names.

Bonus points if this method does not need to do anything for your solution.

For installation and learning resources, refer to the exercism help page.

For running the tests provided, you will need the Minitest gem. Open a terminal window and run the following command to install minitest:

gem install minitest

If you would like color output, you can require 'minitest/pride' in the test file, or note the alternative instruction, below, for running the test file.

Run the tests from the exercise directory using the following command:

ruby robot_name_test.rb

To include color from the command line:

ruby -r minitest/pride robot_name_test.rb

Source

A debugging session with Paul Blackwell at gSchool. http://gschool.it

Submitting Incomplete Solutions

It's possible to submit an incomplete solution so you can see how others have completed the exercise.

robot_name_test.rb

require 'minitest/autorun'
require_relative 'robot_name'

class RobotTest < Minitest::Test
  NAME_REGEXP = /^[A-Z]{2}\d{3}$/

  def setup
    Robot.forget
  end

  def test_can_create_a_robot
    skip
    refute_nil Robot.new
  end

  def test_has_name
    skip
    assert_match NAME_REGEXP, Robot.new.name
  end

  def test_name_sticks
    skip
    robot = Robot.new
    original_name = robot.name
    assert_equal original_name, robot.name
  end

  def test_reset_changes_name
    skip
    robot = Robot.new
    original_name = robot.name
    robot.reset
    refute_equal original_name, robot.name
  end

  def test_reset_before_name_called_does_not_cause_an_error
    skip
    robot = Robot.new
    robot.reset
    assert_match NAME_REGEXP, Robot.new.name
  end

  def test_reset_multiple_times
    skip
    robot = Robot.new
    names = []
    5.times do
      robot.reset
      names << robot.name
    end
    # This will probably be 5, but name uniqueness is only a requirement
    # accross multiple robots and consecutive calls to reset.
    assert names.uniq.size > 1
  end

  def test_different_robots_have_different_names
    skip
    refute_equal Robot.new.name, Robot.new.name
  end

  # This test assumes you're using Kernel.rand as a source of randomness
  def test_different_name_when_chosen_name_is_taken
    skip
    same_seed = 1234
    Kernel.srand same_seed
    robot_1 = Robot.new
    name_1  = robot_1.name
    Kernel.srand same_seed
    robot_2 = Robot.new
    name_2 = robot_2.name
    refute_equal name_1, name_2
  end

  def test_generate_all_robots
    skip
    all_names_count = 26 * 26 * 1000
    time_limit = Time.now + 60 # seconds
    seen_names = Hash.new(0)
    robots = []
    while seen_names.size < all_names_count && Time.now < time_limit
      robot = Robot.new
      seen_names[robot.name] += 1
      robots << robot
    end
    timeout_message = "Timed out trying to generate all possible robots"
    assert_equal all_names_count, robots.size, timeout_message
    assert seen_names.values.all? { |count| count == 1 }, "Some names used more than once"
    assert seen_names.keys.all? { |name| name.match(NAME_REGEXP) }, "Not all names match #{NAME_REGEXP}"
  end

  def test_version
    assert_equal 3, BookKeeping::VERSION
  end
end

class Robot
  def self.used_names
    @used_names ||= []
  end

  attr_reader :name

  def initialize
    generate_name
  end

  def reset
    generate_name
  end

  private

  def generate_name
    loop do
      @name = Array.new(2) { [*"A".."Z"].sample }.join + rand(100..999).to_s
      break unless Robot.used_names.include?(@name)
    end
    Robot.used_names << @name
  end
end

module BookKeeping
  VERSION = 2
end

Community comments

Find this solution interesting? Ask the author a question to learn more.

What can you learn from this solution?

A huge amount can be learned from reading other people’s code. This is why we wanted to give exercism users the option of making their solutions public.

Here are some questions to help you reflect on this solution and learn the most from it.

What compromises have been made?
Are there new concepts here that you could read more about to improve your understanding?

lujanfernaud's solution

to Robot Name in the Ruby Track