Ruby code: Finding the closest point

We want to fetch an avatar of specific size. How to find the closest size from all available sizes? Suppose available sizes are 16, 48 and 96.

An obvious version is

  def closest_size(size)
    case
    when size < 32
      16
    when size < 72
      48
    else
      96
    end
  end

The value used in comparison tests is the average of two neighboring candidate sizes. The problem is that when our available sizes change, we need to add or remove when clauses and recalculate average values.

Here is a smarter way

def closest_size(size)
    points = [16, 48, 96]
    distances = points.map {|a| (size - a).abs}
    points[distances.index(distances.min)]
end

It finds the point with shortest distance to the given size. Now if we want to change candidate sizes, we only need to change the array literal. Further, we can even pass the candidate array as an argument.