Frontline Code Test

Parameters

1. Should be solved in a language which demonstrates your skill for the position you have applied.
2. Deliver a working runnable solution and include a copy of the source code.
3. Write code typical of something we would be proud to have in Frontline software in production.
4. You will need to independently overcome any challenges you face in delivery.
5. If applicable, please list your assumptions.

Problem to Solve

Convert the string: "(id,created,employee(id,firstname,employeeType(id), lastname),location)" to the following output

created
employee
- id
- firstname
- employeeType
-- id
- lastname
location

Bonus (output in alphabetical order):

employee
- employeeType
-- id
- firstname
- id
- lastname
id
location

Solution

The string is very similar to an S Expression. Therefore, my solution utilizes the sexpistol gem to assist in parsing the string into a hash. This is completed using the sp_array_to_hash method.

The hash that is returned by sp_array_to_hash is then used by the print_hash method to output the fields in the required format.

By parsing the fields into a hash, this should allow flexibility in the future, should we encounter similarly formatted strings.

Running

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/abohne/frontline.git

Change directory

cd frontline

If you don't have bundler installed, execute the following command:

gem install bundler

Have bundler installed the required gems

bundle install

Execute the script

ruby frontline.rb

Example

[frontline@turnkey ~]$ git clone https://github.com/abohne/frontline.git
Cloning into 'frontline'...
remote: Counting objects: 24, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (11/11), done.
remote: Total 24 (delta 6), reused 24 (delta 6), pack-reused 0
Unpacking objects: 100% (24/24), done.

[frontline@turnkey ~]$ cd frontline/
[frontline@turnkey frontline]$

[frontline@turnkey frontline]$ gem install bundler
Fetching: bundler-1.15.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed bundler-1.15.4
Parsing documentation for bundler-1.15.4
Installing ri documentation for bundler-1.15.4
1 gem installed

[frontline@turnkey frontline]$ bundle install
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/.
Fetching version metadata from https://rubygems.org/
Resolving dependencies...
Rubygems 2.0.14.1 is not threadsafe, so your gems will be installed one at a time. Upgrade to Rubygems 2.1.0 or higher to enable parallel gem installation.
Using bundler 1.15.4
Fetching sexpistol 0.0.7
Installing sexpistol 0.0.7
Bundle complete! 1 Gemfile dependency, 2 gems now installed.
Use `bundle info [gemname]` to see where a bundled gem is installed.

[frontline@turnkey frontline]$ ruby frontline.rb
created
employee
- employeeType
-- id
- firstname
- id
- lastname
id
location

Assumptions

• Your host has ruby 2.0.0 or greater installed
• Your host has a git client installed

Todo

• Create module encompassing sp_array_to_hash and print_hash methods
• Add RSpec tests