Guided: Build a Library System with Ruby

In this Guided Code Lab, you will construct an object oriented "library system" with Ruby.

You will design three core classes — Book, Borrower, and Library — to simulate fundamental library operations, such as adding books, checking them out, and returning them.

Class Structures

Book Class

• The Book class will represent individual books. Each book will have attributes such as title, author, and available.

Borrower Class

• The Borrower class will represent people who come to borrow books. Each Borrower will have attributes like name and borrowed_books, which will hold a list of books currently borrowed by them.

Library Class

• The Library class will act as the main hub where the operations take place. This class will have attributes such as book_list (a list of all books in the library) and methods to add books, check out books to borrowers, and receive returned books.

Interactions Between Objects

As you develop these classes, you'll also implement methods that allow these objects to interact. For example, when a borrower checks out a book, the availability of the book changes, and the book gets added to the borrower's borrowed_books list. Similarly, when a book is returned, its availability changes again, and it gets removed from the borrower's list.

When you are finished, click Run inside the Terminal to see the application's output.

If you're ready to get started, click the arrow below.

The Book class creates the books inside the library.

Attributes:

• title
• author
• availability

Methods:

• initialize

All of your code will be written inside the book.rb file.

The Borrower class keeps track of who borrowed what books.

Attributes:

• name
• borrowed_books

Let's get started!

All of your code will be written inside the borrower.rb file.

The Library class will let you keep track of the inventory and peform all of the typical tasks of a library such as add books, checkout books, return books, and see what books are available.

Attributes:

• inventory

Methods:

• initialize
• add_book
• checkout_book
• return_book
• list_available_books

Let's get started!

All of your code will be written inside the library.rb file.

Overview

This section will cover the helper methods inside the Library class that give the app it's main functionality.

Methods:

• add_book
• checkout_book
• return_book
• list_available_books

Let's get started!

All of your code will be written inside the library.rb file.

If you're classes are complete, you can click Run in the Terminal to see the following output:

The Great Gatsby has been checked out to John Doe.
The Great Gatsby is not available.
Available books:
1984
The Great Gatsby has been returned by John Doe.
Available books:
The Great Gatsby
1984

Feel free to experiment, add books, check them out, and use the methods from the Library class.