Explicit return statement in Ruby - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Explicit return statement

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple calculator function that adds two numbers. You want to make sure the function clearly returns the result using an explicit return statement.

🎯 Goal: Build a Ruby method called add_numbers that takes two numbers as input and returns their sum using an explicit return statement.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a method named add_numbers with two parameters: a and b

Inside the method, use an explicit return statement to return the sum of a and b

Call the method with the numbers 5 and 7 and store the result in a variable called result

Print the value of result

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Explicit return statements make your code clear and easy to understand, especially when working with functions that perform calculations or data processing.

💼 Career

Many programming jobs require writing clear functions that return values explicitly, which helps with debugging and maintaining code.

1

Create the method skeleton

Write a method named add_numbers that takes two parameters called a and b. Leave the method body empty for now.

Ruby

def add_numbers(a, b)
  # Your code here
end

Need a hint?

Use def to start the method and end to finish it.

2

Add explicit return statement

Inside the add_numbers method, write an explicit return statement that returns the sum of a and b.

Ruby

def add_numbers(a, b)
  # Your code here
end

Need a hint?

Use return a + b to return the sum explicitly.

3

Call the method and store result

Call the add_numbers method with arguments 5 and 7, and store the result in a variable called result.

Ruby

def add_numbers(a, b)
  return a + b
end

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Assign the method call add_numbers(5, 7) to result.

4

Print the result

Print the value of the variable result to display the sum.

Ruby

def add_numbers(a, b)
  return a + b
end

result = add_numbers(5, 7)

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use puts result to print the sum.