For converting an object to a hash (tired of writing one-time-use presenters for JSON, needed quick method)

as_hash_from_object.rb

# Calls attributes on obj, returning results as a hash. Be careful to never
# run this code with user-provided attributes.
#
# Example:
#     as_hash_from_object(user, ["first_name", "last_name", "account.name"])
#     #=> {"first_name" => "Aaron", "last_name" => "Breckenridge", "account.name" => "System Root"}
def as_hash_from_object(object, attribs)
  attribs.each_with_object({}) do |attrib, hash|
    hash[attrib] = attrib.split('.').reduce(object) { |o, i| o.respond_to?(i) ? o.send(i) : nil }
  end
end