Thanks! That was a fun problem for a newbie. It was simple enough to come up with a basic solution pretty rapidly, with several opportunities to refine and experiment.
-Mark
···
#
# Ruby Quiz #121: Morse Code
#
# The example Morse code from the quiz is: ...---..-....-
#
#
# MORSE_SYMS: A dictionary mapping letters to their morse code.
#
MORSE_SYMS = { "a", ".-", "b", "-...", "c", "-.-.", "d", "-..",
"e", ".", "f", "..-.", "g", "--.", "h", "....", "i", "..",
"j", ".---", "k", "-.-", "l", ".-..", "m", "--", "n", "-.",
"o", "---", "p", ".--.", "q", "--.-", "r", ".-.", "s", "...",
"t", "-", "u", "..-", "v", "...-", "w", ".--", "x", "-..-",
"y", "-.--", "z", "--.." }
#
# morse_words: Given a string of Morse code (s), return an array
# of strings of letters which have the same morse code.
#
# The technique is recursive: attempt to match the start of the
# Morse code string to the Morse code for each letter. If it
# matches, then return an array of words starting with that letter,
# and followed by all possible strings made up from the remaining
# Morse code.
#
def morse_words(s)
words = []
MORSE_SYMS.each_pair do |letter, morse|
#
# If the remaining string exactly matches a letter, then
# add that letter (by itself) as a result. This is how the
# recursion "bottoms out."
#
if s == morse
words << letter
next
end
#
# Does the Morse code for the current letter match the start
# of the Morse code string?
#
l = morse.length
if s[0,l] == morse
#
# Generate the possibilities starting with the current letter.
#
morse_words(s[l..-1]).each do |w|
words << letter+w
end
end
end
return words
end
#
# to_morse: Convert a word into its Morse code equivalent by splitting
# the word into individual letters, mapping each letter, and rejoining
# them with the given separator.
#
def to_morse(word, sep="|")
word.scan(/./).map { |c| MORSE_SYMS[c] }.join(sep)
end
if __FILE__ == $0
#
# The command line arguments are paths to files containing
# dictionary words separated by whitespace. For example,
# pass /usr/share/dict/words.
#
dictionary = []
ARGV.each do |path|
# puts "Reading #{path}..."
dictionary.concat(open(path).read.split)
end
#
# The following words were translations from the example Morse
# code string, but not in my dictionaries, so add them so we
# can test the "word in dictionary" case.
#
dictionary << "sofia"
dictionary << "eugenia"
#
# Read Morse code strings from standard input, and print possible
# words to standard output.
#
$stdin.each do |morse|
words = morse_words(morse.chomp)
words.sort! # Sorted output is easier to scan
#
# Find the length of the longest Morse code string
# so that we can line up columns nicely.
#
morse_max = words.map { |w| to_morse(w).length }.max
#
# Separate the words into two lists: those words which are
# in the dictionary, and those that aren't.
#
dict_words = words & dictionary
non_dict_words = words - dict_words
#
# Print the words. I chose to print the dictionary words
# last, so they'd be easier to spot.
#
puts "Non-dictionary words:"
non_dict_words.each do |word|
print to_morse(word).ljust(morse_max), " => ", word, "\n"
end
puts "Dictionary words:"
dict_words.each do |word|
print to_morse(word).ljust(morse_max), " => ", word, "\n"
end
end
end