I'm not sure my solution works? and why did it work when I set the temp variable to one in the min function and not when I set it to 0?

Exactly

Pretty good case for random tests.

And reverse logic confirms when I checked the attribute against the instance variable in my sample tests:

dog = GenericEntity.new(:barks=>"obnoxiously", :bites=>"mildly", :color=>"black")

Test.assert_equals(dog.color, "black")
Test.assert_equals(dog.bites, "mildly")
Test.assert_equals(dog.barks, "obnoxiously")
Test.assert_equals(dog.barks, @barks)




Test Passed: Value == "black"
Test Passed: Value == "mildly"
Test Passed: Value == "obnoxiously"
Expected: nil, instead got: "obnoxiously"

Any resolution? Yeah when I write my own sample test with same params: dog = GenericEntity.new(:barks=>"obnoxiously", :bites=>"mildly", :color=>"black")