FAQ: Control Flow in Ruby - Practice Makes Perfect

Frequently Asked Questions Ruby FAQ
1

Community%20FAQs%20on%20Codecademy%20Exercises
Community%20FAQs%20on%20Codecademy%20Exercises1000×208 141 KB

This community-built FAQ covers the “Practice Makes Perfect” exercise from the lesson “Control Flow in Ruby”.

Paths and Courses
This exercise can be found in the following Codecademy content:

Learn Ruby

FAQs on the exercise Practice Makes Perfect

There are currently no frequently asked questions associated with this exercise – that’s where you come in! You can contribute to this section by offering your own questions, answers, or clarifications on this exercise. Ask or answer a question by clicking reply (reply) below.

If you’ve had an “aha” moment about the concepts, formatting, syntax, or anything else with this exercise, consider sharing those insights! Teaching others and answering their questions is one of the best ways to learn and stay sharp.

Join the Discussion. Help a fellow learner on their journey.

Ask or answer a question about this exercise by clicking reply (reply) below!

Agree with a comment or answer? Like (like) to up-vote the contribution!

Need broader help or resources? Head here.

Looking for motivation to keep learning? Join our wider discussions.

Learn more about how to use this guide.

Found a bug? Report it!

Have a question about your account or billing? Reach out to our customer support team!

None of the above? Find out where to ask other questions here!

2

I don’t understand on your example:

test_1 = 77 != 77

test_1 = false

test_2 = -4 <= -4

test_2 = true

Why test 1 has to be false, and test 2 true.
In both examples both integers are identical.
From what’s been explained either != or <= mean that A is not the same as B. So why can’t test 1 be true and test 2 false?

1 Like
3

If I told you that 77 is not the same as 77, that would be a false statement. != means not equal.
<= means less than or equal to, so if I tell you, -4 is less than or equal to -4, that is a true statement. Hope this helps!

5 Likes
4

I started realising shortly after my post, but yes it makes a lot of sense. Hopefully this post will help other people in the future also :slight_smile: thanks!

7 Likes
7

Hi Midlander, thanks for your reply to Decanoa92’s question.

However, I am still struggling to understand the second part of your explanation, you said: " <= means less than or equal to, so if I tell you, -4 is less than or equal to -4, that is a true statement. "

Everyone understands that -4 is equal to -4, but how is -4 less than -4? Also, < and = are two different symbols in Math. So, I am struggling to understand how the rules can suddenly change in this context.

1 Like
8

In almost every programming language you have the following comparison operators:

< #less than
> #greater than
== #equal to (some languages like javascript also have === #strictly equal to)
!= #not equal to
<= #less than or equal to (OR is the key. It is one operator and returns True
   #if the left operand is less than OR equal to the right operand.)
>= #greater than or equal to (Again, OR is the key. This is a single operator
   #that return True if the left operand is greater than OR equal to the right
   #operand.)

Keep in mind, that < = is not the same as <=. Placing a space between them makes them separate operators which should throw a syntax error.

1 Like