Comparable
The Comparable mixin is used by classes whose objects may be ordered. The class must define the <=> operator, which compares the receiver against another object, returning a value less than 0, returning 0, or returning a value greater than 0, depending on whether the receiver is less than, equal to, or greater than the other object. If the other object is not comparable then the <=> operator should return nil. Comparable uses <=> to implement the conventional comparison operators (<, <=, ==, >=, and >) and the method between?.
class SizeMatters
include Comparable
attr :str
def <=>(other)
str.size <=> other.str.size
end
def initialize(str)
@str = str
end
def inspect
@str
end
end
s1 = SizeMatters.new("Z")
s2 = SizeMatters.new("YY")
s3 = SizeMatters.new("XXX")
s4 = SizeMatters.new("WWWW")
s5 = SizeMatters.new("VVVVV")
s1 < s2 #=> true
s4.between?(s1, s3) #=> false
s4.between?(s3, s5) #=> true
[ s3, s2, s5, s4, s1 ].sort #=> [Z, YY, XXX, WWWW, VVVVV]