gistfile1.txt

# resources/foo.rb
attribute :x, :kind_of => String, :default => nil

# providers/foo.rb
x = new_resource.x.nil? ? new_resource.name : new_resource.x

# providers/bar.rb
foo new_resource.name do
  x "foobar"
end

# x always ends up as "schlep".

The ternary operator is basically doing this:

if new_resource.x.nil?
  new_resource.name
else
  new_resource.x
end