The .parse method

What is the .parse method?
The .parse method is associated with parsing and converting strings into object. It's very useful when working with API. You often receive data in the form of strings, especially when interacting with web APIs that communicate using JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). The .parse method becomes useful for converting these string representations into useable objects.

Example:

require 'date'

date_string = "2024-01-12"
parsed_date = Date.parse(date_string)

puts parsed_date
# Output: 2024-01-12

require 'json'
require 'net/http'

# Assume you make an API request and get a JSON response as a string
api_url = URI.parse('https://api.example.com/data')
api_response = Net::HTTP.get(api_url)

# Using .parse to convert the JSON string into a Ruby hash
parsed_data = JSON.parse(api_response)

# Now, you can work with the data as a Ruby hash
puts parsed_data['name']
puts parsed_data['age']

In this example, the JSON.parse method is used to convert the JSON string received from the API into a Ruby hash. This allows you to access and manipulate the data in a more convenient and structure way.

How and when to use .parse method?
You would use the .parse method when you have a string representation of a data, time, or other structure data, and you want to convert it into an object of the corresponding class. This is particularly useful when working with user input or data from external sources where the information is represented as strings.