firstchar.rb

def firstchar_map(input)
  return input.split.map(&:chr)*''
end

puts firstchar("hello world")
puts firstchar("what you see is what you get")


# this is my very first ruby function, so here's where i learned from...
# - commenting:         http://www.tutorialspoint.com/ruby/ruby_comments.htm
# - functions in ruby:  http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/programming/ruby/ruby-function-method-syntax/
# - spliting strings:   http://www.dotnetperls.com/split-ruby
# - mapping and &,. wow:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1217088/what-does-mapname-mean-in-ruby
# - ruby string docs:   http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/String.html


# here is a test to check performance agasint using regex

def firstchar_map(input)
  return input.split.map(&:chr)*''
end

def firstchar_regex(input)
  return input.scan(/\b(\w)/)*''
end

t1 = Time.now
(0..1e5).each do |i|
  firstchar_map("There are some words here, and this number #{i} makes the string unique'ish")
end
puts "Using mapping: #{Time.now - t1}"

t1 = Time.now
(0..1e5).each do |i|
  firstchar_regex("There are some words here, and this number #{i} makes the string unique'ish")
end
puts "Using regex: #{Time.now - t1}"

# >Using mapping: 0.842458
# >Using regex: 1.980652

# So I choose door number one. Splitting and mapping.