gistfile1.rb

# A code snippet that takes a hash and recursively converts it to an object
# that you call methods on instead of hash accessors. So
# h = {:foo => "bar}
# h[:foo] # => "bar"
# h = Hashit.new(h)
# h.foo # => "bar"

# a modified version of the hash mapping stuff here:
# http://pullmonkey.com/2008/1/6/convert-a-ruby-hash-into-a-class-object
class Hashit
  def initialize(hash)
    hash.each do |k,v|
      v = hash_children(v)
      self.instance_variable_set("@#{k}", v)  ## create and initialize an instance variable for this key/value pair
      self.class.send(:define_method, k, proc{self.instance_variable_get("@#{k}")})  ## create the getter that returns the instance variable
      self.class.send(:define_method, "#{k}=", proc{|v| self.instance_variable_set("@#{k}", v)})  ## create the setter that sets the instance variable
    end
  end
  
  def hash_children(object)
    if object.is_a?(Hash)
      Hashit.new(object)
    elsif object.is_a?(Array)
      object.map {|o| hash_children(o)}
    else
      object
    end
  end
end