TiL: Using the max_by method in Ruby

When trying to get an upper or lower value for a certain field in an object can be cumbersome. But when using the max_by method, this can actually be done quite elegantly. For example:

persons = [
  { "name" => "John McJohnson","age" => 34, "topScoreAtBowling" => 205},
  { "name" => "Davey Jones","age" => 304, "topScoreAtBowling" => 300},
  { "name" => "Willy Wonka","age" => 50, "topScoreAtBowling" => 200}
]

If we had a bowling competition and wanted to see who had the topScoreAtBowling field, rather than looping through the array and looking at each object, we can simply use the max_by command as follows:

persons.max_by { |person| person['topScoreAtBowling']} #{"name"=>"Davey Jones", "age"=>304, "topScoreAtBowling"=>300}

The resultant object would be returned, and could be processed into their “Hall of Fame”!

Conclusion

The max_by method is very convenient when dealing with a large array of objects, and you are required to find the highest value for a certain field. Alternatively the min_by method can be used to find the lower value of a certain field

Conclusion#

Conclusion