class Hashery::Stash

The KeyHash class is a Hash class which accepts a block for normalizing keys.

The KeyHash class is essentially the same as a normal Hash. But notice the significant distinction of indifferent key access.

s = KeyHash.new
s[:x] = 1
s[:x]       #=> 1
s['x']      #=> 1

We can see that internally the key has indeed been converted to a String.

s.to_h      #=> {'x'=>1 }

By default all keys are converted to strings. This has two advantages over a regular Hash is many usecases. First it means hash entries have indifferent access. 1, "1" and :1 are all equivalent –any object that defines #to_s can be used as a key. Secondly, since strings are garbage collected so will default KeyHash objects.

But keys can be normalized by any function. Theses functions can be quite unique.

h = KeyHash.new(0){ |k| k.to_i }
h[1.34] += 1
h[1.20] += 1
h[1.00] += 1
h  #=> { 1 => 3 }

Public Class Methods

new(*default, &block) click to toggle source

Unlike a regular Hash, a KeyHash's block sets the `key_proc` rather than the `default_proc`.

Calls superclass method
# File lib/hashery/key_hash.rb, line 44
def initialize(*default, &block)
  super(*default)
  @key_proc = block || Proc.new{ |k| k.to_s }
end