Wordiff
Wordiff is an original game in which contestants take turns spelling new dictionary words that only differ from the last by a change in one letter.
The change can be either:
- a deletion of one letter;
- addition of one letter;
- or change in one letter.
Note:
- All words must be in the dictionary.
- No word in a game can be repeated.
- The first word must be three or four letters long.
- Task
Create a program to aid in the playing of the game by:
- Asking for contestants names.
- Choosing an initial random three or four letter word from the dictionary.
- Asking each contestant in their turn for a wordiff word.
- Checking the wordiff word is:
- in the dictionary,
- not a repetition of past words,
- and differs from the last appropriately.
- Optional stretch goal
Add timing.
- Allow players to set a maximum playing time for the game.
- An internal timer accumulates how long each user takes to respond in their turns.
- Play is halted if the maximum playing time is exceeded on a players input.
- That last player must have entered a wordiff or loses.
- If the game is timed-out, the loser is the person who took the longest `average` time to answer in their rounds.
Nim
<lang Nim>import httpclient, sequtils, sets, strutils, sugar from unicode import capitalize
const
DictFname = "unixdict.txt" DictUrl1 = "http://wiki.puzzlers.org/pub/wordlists/unixdict.txt" # ~25K words DictUrl2 = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dwyl/english-words/master/words.txt" # ~470K words
type Dictionary = HashSet[string]
proc loadDictionary(fname = DictFname): Dictionary =
## Return appropriate words from a dictionary file. for word in fname.lines(): if word.len >= 3 and word.allCharsInSet(Letters): result.incl word.toLowerAscii
proc loadWebDictionary(url: string): Dictionary =
## Return appropriate words from a dictionary web page. let client = newHttpClient() for word in client.getContent(url).splitLines(): if word.len >= 3 and word.allCharsInSet(Letters): result.incl word.toLowerAscii
proc getPlayers(): seq[string] =
## Return inputted ordered list of contestant names.
try:
stdout.write "Space separated list of contestants: "
stdout.flushFile()
result = stdin.readLine().splitWhitespace().map(capitalize)
if result.len == 0:
quit "Empty list of names. Quitting.", QuitFailure
except EOFError:
echo()
quit "Encountered end of file. Quitting.", QuitFailure
proc isWordiffRemoval(word, prev: string; comment = true): bool =
## Is "word" derived from "prev" by removing one letter? for i in 0..prev.high: if word == prev[0..<i] & prev[i+1..^1]: return true if comment: echo "Word is not derived from previous by removal of one letter." result = false
proc isWordiffInsertion(word, prev: string; comment = true): bool =
## Is "word" derived from "prev" by adding one letter? for i in 0..word.high: if prev == word[0..<i] & word[i+1..^1]: return true if comment: echo "Word is not derived from previous by insertion of one letter." return false
proc isWordiffChange(word, prev: string; comment = true): bool =
## Is "word" derived from "prev" by changing exactly one letter?
var diffcount = 0
for i in 0..word.high:
diffcount += ord(word[i] != prev[i])
if diffcount != 1:
if comment:
echo "More or less than exactly one character changed."
return false
result = true
proc isWordiff(word: string; wordiffs: seq[string]; dict: Dictionary; comment = true): bool =
## Is "word" a valid wordiff from "wordiffs[^1]"?
if word notin dict:
if comment:
echo "That word is not in my dictionary."
return false
if word in wordiffs:
if comment:
echo "That word was already used."
return false
result = if word.len < wordiffs[^1].len: word.isWordiffRemoval(wordiffs[^1], comment)
elif word.len > wordiffs[^1].len: word.isWordiffInsertion(wordiffs[^1], comment)
else: word.isWordiffChange(wordiffs[^1], comment)
proc couldHaveGot(wordiffs: seq[string]; dict: Dictionary): seq[string] =
for word in dict - wordiffs.toHashSet:
if word.isWordiff(wordiffs, dict, comment = false):
result.add word
when isMainModule:
import random
randomize()
let dict = loadDictionary(DictFname)
let dict34 = collect(newSeq):
for word in dict:
if word.len in [3, 4]: word
let start = sample(dict34)
var wordiffs = @[start]
let players = getPlayers()
var iplayer = 0
var word: string
while true:
let name = players[iplayer]
while true:
stdout.write "$1, input a wordiff from “$2”: ".format(name, wordiffs[^1])
stdout.flushFile()
try:
word = stdin.readLine().strip()
if word.len > 0: break
except EOFError:
quit "Encountered end of file. Quitting.", QuitFailure
if word.isWordiff(wordiffs, dict):
wordiffs.add word
else:
echo "You have lost, $#.".format(name)
let possibleWords = couldHaveGot(wordiffs, dict)
if possibleWords.len > 0:
echo "You could have used: ", possibleWords[0..min(possibleWords.high, 20)].join(" ")
break
iplayer = (iplayer + 1) mod players.len</lang>
- Output:
Space separated list of contestants: Paddy Maggie Paddy, input a wordiff from “beta”: bet Maggie, input a wordiff from “bet”: bee Paddy, input a wordiff from “bee”: tee Maggie, input a wordiff from “tee”: teen Paddy, input a wordiff from “teen”: teeny That word is not in my dictionary. You have lost, Paddy. You could have used: then steen tern keen teem teet been seen ten
Python
This is without timing, but ends by showing some wordiffs from the dictionary that could have worked on failure. <lang python># -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from typing import List, Tuple, Dict, Set from itertools import cycle, islice from collections import Counter import re import random import urllib
dict_fname = 'unixdict.txt' dict_url1 = 'http://wiki.puzzlers.org/pub/wordlists/unixdict.txt' # ~25K words dict_url2 = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dwyl/english-words/master/words.txt' # ~470K words
word_regexp = re.compile(r'^[a-z]{3,}$') # reduce dict words to those of three or more a-z characters.
def load_dictionary(fname: str=dict_fname) -> Set[str]:
"Return appropriate words from a dictionary file"
with open(fname) as f:
return {lcase for lcase in (word.strip().lower() for word in f)
if word_regexp.match(lcase)}
def load_web_dictionary(url: str) -> Set[str]:
"Return appropriate words from a dictionary web page"
words = urllib.request.urlopen(url).read().decode().strip().lower().split()
return {word for word in words if word_regexp.match(word)}
def get_players() -> List[str]:
"Return inputted ordered list of contestant names."
names = input('Space separated list of contestants: ')
return [n.capitalize() for n in names.strip().split()]
def is_wordiff(wordiffs: List[str], word: str, dic: Set[str], comment=True) -> bool:
"Is word a valid wordiff from wordiffs[-1] ?"
if word not in dic:
if comment:
print('That word is not in my dictionary')
return False
if word in wordiffs:
if comment:
print('That word was already used.')
return False
if len(word) < len(wordiffs[-1]):
return is_wordiff_removal(word, wordiffs[-1], comment)
elif len(word) > len(wordiffs[-1]):
return is_wordiff_insertion(word, wordiffs[-1], comment)
return is_wordiff_change(word, wordiffs[-1], comment)
def is_wordiff_removal(word: str, prev: str, comment=True) -> bool:
"Is word derived from prev by removing one letter?"
...
ans = word in {prev[:i] + prev[i+1:] for i in range(len(prev))}
if not ans:
if comment:
print('Word is not derived from previous by removal of one letter.')
return ans
def is_wordiff_insertion(word: str, prev: str, comment=True) -> bool:
"Is word derived from prev by adding one letter?"
diff = Counter(word) - Counter(prev)
diffcount = sum(diff.values())
if diffcount != 1:
if comment:
print('More than one character insertion difference.')
return False
insert = list(diff.keys())[0]
ans = word in {prev[:i] + insert + prev[i:] for i in range(len(prev) + 1)}
if not ans:
if comment:
print('Word is not derived from previous by insertion of one letter.')
return ans
def is_wordiff_change(word: str, prev: str, comment=True) -> bool:
"Is word derived from prev by changing exactly one letter?"
...
diffcount = sum(w != p for w, p in zip(word, prev))
if diffcount != 1:
if comment:
print('More or less than exactly one character changed.')
return False
return True
def could_have_got(wordiffs: List[str], dic: Set[str]):
return (word for word in (dic - set(wordiffs))
if is_wordiff(wordiffs, word, dic, comment=False))
if __name__ == '__main__':
dic = load_web_dictionary(dict_url2)
dic_3_4 = [word for word in dic if len(word) in {3, 4}]
start = random.choice(dic_3_4)
wordiffs = [start]
players = get_players()
for name in cycle(players):
word = input(f"{name}: Input a wordiff from {wordiffs[-1]!r}: ").strip()
if is_wordiff(wordiffs, word, dic):
wordiffs.append(word)
else:
print(f'YOU HAVE LOST {name}!')
print("Could have used:",
', '.join(islice(could_have_got(wordiffs, dic), 10)), '...')
break</lang>
- Output:
Space separated list of contestants: Paddy Maggie Paddy: Input a wordiff from 'sett': sets Maggie: Input a wordiff from 'sets': bets Paddy: Input a wordiff from 'bets': buts Maggie: Input a wordiff from 'buts': bits Paddy: Input a wordiff from 'bits': bit Maggie: Input a wordiff from 'bit': bite Paddy: Input a wordiff from 'bite': biter Maggie: Input a wordiff from 'biter': bitter Paddy: Input a wordiff from 'bitter': sitter Maggie: Input a wordiff from 'sitter': titter Paddy: Input a wordiff from 'titter': tutter That word is not in my dictionary YOU HAVE LOST Paddy! Could have used: titfer, witter, tittery, totter, titler, kitter, twitter, tilter, gitter, jitter ...