Why I Love Coding in Ruby: Dir.mktmpdir

Because blocks!

This code creates a temporary directory and a file foo.txt therein:

require 'tmpdir'

Dir.mktmpdir do |dir|
  open("#{dir}/foo.txt", 'w') do |file|
    # Do something with the file.
  end
end

When the block exits, the directory and its contents are deleted automatically.

Easy peasy!

Comments

[Ben Halpern]

Thing of beauty

[Jon Luke Harvey]

What is your opinion on Ruby scripting verses other languages like Python or Bash? I know that Metasploit (vulnerability application) is programmed in ruby but I also have read that most people use Python or Bash for scripting. What are some advantages Ruby might have?

[Burdette Lamar]

I don't think of Ruby as a scripting language, even though it's interpreted rather than compiled. In fact, I never say 'test script' b/c it seems to me to suggest something lightweight rather than substantial.

Bash is not object-oriented (disqualifying in my view), and therefore not at all comparable to Ruby, Python, or even Perl, all of which are object-oriented.

Besides blocks (which I love), Ruby just feels fluid to me.

[Jon Luke Harvey]

Thanks for your honest response! :) I will keep that in mind for sure.