Question

I have the following code:

Array.class_eval do
    def abs_sort
        new_array = self
        self.each do |x|
            new_array.push(x.abs)
        end
        return new_array.sort
    end
end

When I try to run the code:

[1, 4, -2].abs_sort

Nothing happens, it just shows a blank screen. Why?

Answer 1

You need to set new_array to an actual new array, not self:

new_array = []

What’s happening is that since new_array is self, you’re adding items to the end of the array as you iterate over it, which means that the iteration never ends since you always have more items, and your method infinitely loops.