Ruby program runs with unexpected results

In a way, a program is simply a series of steps that continually transforms state. When you encounter unexpected results, it means that the program at some point is transforming the current state in a way that you do not fully understand.

Use the following techniques to try to solve the issue:

• follow the flow of your program's execution
• think about the scope of any variables you're working with (local, instance, class, global)
• think about methods you are calling, and what (if any), arguments you're providing those methods
• think about the results methods are returning
• think about the datatypes that you're working with
• use puts debugging
• use binding.pry and binding.irb to intercept and inspect your code as it's executing
• try working out the issue inside of a REPL (irb or pry)
• use inspect to look inside of an object
• use raise to cause a runtime error
• try to reproduce what you're trying to achieve in the simplest way possible, and when you have that working, incorporate it into you bigger project