Ruby Hacks You Have Never Ever Used

💎 Ruby Hacks You’ve Never Ever Used (But Should!) 🚀

Ruby is already a beautiful language—simple, elegant, and developer-friendly. But beneath its simplicity, there are hidden hacks and tricks that even seasoned developers rarely touch. 🤫

In this blog, we’ll uncover Ruby hacks you’ve probably never used before—with clear use cases, code examples, and pro tips. Let’s make your Ruby coding smarter and cooler! 😎✨

1️⃣ tap – Debug & Chain Like a Pro 🔍

The tap method lets you “tap into” an object, run operations, and still return the object itself.

Example: Debugging in the middle of a chain

user = { name: "Raj", age: 27 }
  .tap { |u| puts "Before update: #{u}" }
  .merge(age: 28)
  .tap { |u| puts "After update: #{u}" }

👉 Output:

Before update: {:name=>"Raj", :age=>27}
After update: {:name=>"Raj", :age=>28}

💡 Tip: Use tap to peek into objects while chaining methods without breaking the flow. Perfect for debugging or logging!

2️⃣ then – Functional Style ✨

Introduced in Ruby 2.6, then works like tap but returns the block result instead of the object.

Example: Chained transformations

(5).then { |n| n * 2 }
    .then { |n| "Result is #{n}" }
# => "Result is 10"

💡 Tip: Combine tap and then wisely—tap for debugging, then for transformations.

3️⃣ __send__ – Call Hidden Methods 🕵️

Sometimes method names clash with Ruby keywords or are private. Enter __send__.

Example: Accessing a method that collides with keywords

class Weird
  def class
    "I hacked Ruby 😅"
  end
end

obj = Weird.new
puts obj.__send__(:class)  # => "I hacked Ruby 😅"

💡 Tip: Use carefully—overusing __send__ can lead to confusing code. Best for meta-programming cases.

4️⃣ ||= – The Lazy Saver 💾

A shorthand way to set a value only if it’s not already set.

Example:

name ||= "Guest"
# If name already has a value, it won’t be overwritten.

💡 Tip: Perfect for memoization in methods.

def expensive_call
  @result ||= perform_heavy_task
end

5️⃣ Hash#fetch with Defaults 🔑

Using hash[:key] can give you nil. fetch makes you intentional.

Example:

user = { name: "Raj" }

puts user.fetch(:name, "Guest")  # => "Raj"
puts user.fetch(:age, 20)        # => 20

💡 Tip: Avoids nil errors and makes your code more predictable.

6️⃣ Safe Navigation Operator &. 🚦

No more nil checking nightmares.

Example:

user = nil
puts user&.name   # => nil (instead of crashing)

💡 Tip: Combine with chaining when dealing with APIs or optional objects.

7️⃣ %w and %i for Arrays & Symbols 🚀

A cleaner way to define arrays and symbols.

Example:

fruits = %w[apple banana mango]  
roles  = %i[admin editor viewer]  

💡 Tip: Cleaner, faster, and avoids unnecessary quotes or commas.

8️⃣ Enumerator#lazy – Infinite Magic ♾️

Process infinite or large data without blowing up memory.

Example: Infinite sequence

lazy_numbers = (1..Float::INFINITY).lazy.select { |n| n.even? }
puts lazy_numbers.first(5)  # => [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]

💡 Tip: Use lazy for APIs or huge datasets when you don’t want to load everything into memory.

9️⃣ Flip-Flop Operator .. and ... ⚡

Yes, Ruby has a flip-flop operator often overlooked!

Example: Within conditions

(1..10).each do |i|
  puts i if (i == 3)..(i == 7)
end
# => 3,4,5,6,7

💡 Tip: Useful in parsing ranges or line-matching in files.

🔟 Monkey Patching with Refinements 🐒

Instead of globally monkey-patching, use refinements to limit scope.

Example:

module StringExtensions
  refine String do
    def shout
      upcase + "!!!"
    end
  end
end

using StringExtensions
puts "hello".shout   # => HELLO!!!

💡 Tip: Always prefer refinements over direct monkey-patching to keep your code safe.

🎯 Final Pro Tips

✨ Start small—try one hack in your next Ruby project. ✨ Use tap and then for cleaner pipelines. ✨ Use lazy for big datasets. ✨ Always keep readability first—hacks are fun, but clarity wins.

🚀 Conclusion

Ruby is like an iceberg—most developers only see the surface, but deep down, it has powerful hacks that make coding smarter and more enjoyable. 💎

Use these hacks wisely, and you’ll write cleaner, faster, and more elegant Ruby code than ever before! 🌟