Solar System Wave 1

wave1.rb

class Planet

  def initialize(name,moons,escape_v,temp,type,distance)
    @name = name
    @moons = moons
    @escape_v = escape_v
    @surface_temp = temp
    @type = type
    @distance_from_the_sun = distance
  end

  attr_reader :name

  def to_s
    puts "#{@name} is a #{@type} planet!\n\nNumber of moons: #{@moons}\nAverage Surface Temperature: #{@surface_temp}\nDistance from the Sun: #{@distance_from_the_sun}\nEscape Velocity: #{@escape_v}\n\n\n"
  end

end

# class SolarSystem
# 
#   def initialize(planets)
#     @planets = [planets]
#     @planets.flatten!
#   end
# 
#   def planets
#     @planets
#   end
# 
#   def add_planets(new_planets)
#     @planets.push(new_planets).flatten!
#     print @planets
#   end
# end




mercury = Planet.new("Mercury",0,4300,452,:rocky,57909175)
venus = Planet.new("Venus",0,10400,726,:rocky,108208930)
earth = Planet.new("Earth",1,11200,281,:rocky,149597890)
mars = Planet.new("Mars",2,5000,218,:rocky,227936640)
jupiter = Planet.new("Jupiter",67,59500,120,:gaseous,778412020)
saturn = Planet.new("Saturn",62,35600,88,:gaseous,886715600)
uranus = Planet.new("Uranus",27,21300,59,:gaseous,2870972200)
neptune = Planet.new("Neptune",14,23300,48,:gaseous,4498252900)

#Optional Enhancement for USER INPUT
puts "Here are the planets:\n1. #{mercury.name}\n2. #{venus.name}\n3. #{earth.name}\n4. #{mars.name}\n5. #{jupiter.name}\n6. #{saturn.name}\n7. #{uranus.name}\n8. #{neptune.name}\n"

go = true
while go
  print "Type a planet's name to learn more about it, or type 'exit' when you're finished:  "
  choice = gets.chomp.upcase

case choice
  when "MERCURY"
    puts mercury
  when "VENUS"
    puts venus
  when "EARTH"
    puts earth
  when "MARS"
    puts mars
  when "JUPITER"
    puts jupiter
  when "SATURN"
    puts saturn
  when "URANUS"
    puts uranus
  when "NEPTUNE"
    puts neptune
  when "EXIT"
    go = false
  end
end

For Wave 1, overall I feel like I accomplished the learning goals. I understand how to and can successfully create a class and use an initialize method. I can also create and use instance variables, however I’m not completely clear on when I do and don’t need to use an instance variable versus a ‘regular’ variable. I tend to make every variable in a class an instance variable, even though I don’t think it’s always necessary. I also see in my code that I used an attr_reader method, but only for the name variable. As look at it now, I’m not sure why I did that or what purpose it serves. If I did this project again, I would see if the code could run without it. I would also try to find a more efficient way to add information about the planets. Creating a large hash for each planet seemed a little code heavy and I wonder if there’s a way I could do it differently. I would have also used faker to save time instead of looking up real facts about the planets.