advantage of tap method in ruby

Question

I was just reading a blog article and noticed that the author used tap in a snippet something like:

user = User.new.tap do |u|
  u.username = \         


        

Answer 1

I would say that there is no advantage to using tap. The only potential benefit, as @sawa points out is, and I quote: "A reader would not have to read what is inside the block to know that an instance user is created." However, at that point the argument can be made that if you're doing non-simplistic record creation logic, your intent would be better communicated by extracting that logic into its own method.

I hold to the opinion that tap is an unnecessary burden on the readability of the code, and could be done without, or substituted with a better technique, like Extract Method.

While tap is a convenience method, it's also personal preference. Give tap a try. Then write some code without using tap, see if you like one way over another.