comparing variable to function

Question

In this book: http://ruby.railstutorial.org/chapters/updating-showing-and-deleting-users#code:current_user_p

The author does the following:

  def current_user
    @current_user ||= User.find_by_remember_token(cookies[:remember_token])
  end

  def current_user?(user)
    user == current_user
  end

my question is when there is a comparison, user == current_user; what is rails comparing? user == @current_user? or user.name == @current_user.name ?

What would hapen if I had the following

  def current_user
    @current_user ||= User.find_by_remember_token(cookies[:remember_token])
    @other_user ||= User.find_by_other_token(cookies[:other_token])
  end

would ser == current_user compare other_user?

flynfish · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-04 00:26:39Z

2

The current_user in user == current_user is a call to the current_user method, and in ruby a method returns the last statement that is executed. So in the example, @current_user is being compared to user.

If you add @other_user to the current_user method, then you are correct in thinking that user == current_user would compare user to @other_user.

answered Jun 4, 2012 at 0:26

flynfish

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Flambino · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-04 00:30:54Z

1

@current_user → the instance variable
current_user → the method

So the current_user? method compares the return value of current_user (the method) to the user argument.

Here's the exact same code, but with slightly different names:

def get_current_user
  @current_user ||= User.find_by_remember_token(cookies[:remember_token])
end

def is_current_user?(user)
  user == get_current_user
end

answered Jun 4, 2012 at 0:30

Flambino

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