# Want a regular Ruby Quiz? (long)

**URL:** <https://rubytalk.org/t/want-a-regular-ruby-quiz-long/13630>\
**Category:** ruby-talk\
**Created:** [16 September 2004 20:08 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/want-a-regular-ruby-quiz-long/13630 "2004-09-16T20:08:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://rubytalk.org/u/James_Edward_Gray_II)\
**Post date:** [17 September 2004 19:07 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/want-a-regular-ruby-quiz-long/13630/21 "2004-09-17T19:07:19Z")

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> Perhaps we could take a favorite book, "Programming Pearls" by Jon Bently  
> and use some of the puzzles contained therein. For example, from page 11:

I'm unfamiliar with this book, but it's looking good so far. Pick a favorite problem or three and submit then to rubyquiz@grayproductions.net when you have a chance.

> &nbsp;&nbsp;"Given a dictionary of English words, find all sets of anagrams. For  
> instance, "pots", "stop" and "tops" are all anagrams of one another because  
> each can be formed by permuting the letters of the others."
> 
> And its related question:
> 
> &nbsp;&nbsp;"Consider the problem of finding all the anagrams of a given input word.  
> How could you solve this problem given the word and the dictionary? What  
> if you could spend some time and space to process the dictionary before  
> answering the query?"

The Perl Quiz of the Week has done some fun problems along these lines. My favorite was a word ladder problem where you find all the words from say "house" to "shack", varying only a single letter at each step. All words along the way also had to be in the dictionary.

It looks as if the CodeKatas may have also included this one. It seemed to be mentioned on the Wiki, though I didn't see it in the blog.

Word problems are always fun. Hopefully, we'll have some good ones too...

James Edward Gray II

> **···**
>
> On Sep 17, 2004, at 11:39 AM, Mark Probert wrote:

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**Author:** ![James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://rubytalk.org/u/James_Edward_Gray_II)\
**Post date:** [17 September 2004 17:27 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/want-a-regular-ruby-quiz-long/13630/22 "2004-09-17T17:27:15Z")

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Excellent link. A few questions:

Are you regularly adding more?

Does your mailing list see steady traffic?

I wasn't aware of this resource.

James Edward Gray II

> **···**
>
> On Sep 17, 2004, at 11:53 AM, Dave Thomas wrote:
> 
> > On Sep 17, 2004, at 11:39, Mark Probert wrote:
> > 
> > > Perhaps we could take a favorite book, "Programming Pearls" by Jon Bently  
> > > and use some of the puzzles contained therein. For example, from page 11:
> > 
> > Have you had a look at my CodeKata?
> > 
> > &nbsp;&nbsp;[http://pragprog.com/pragdave/Practices/Kata](http://pragprog.com/pragdave/Practices/Kata)

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**Author:** ![George\_Ogata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@George\_Ogata1](https://rubytalk.org/u/George_Ogata1)\
**Post date:** [17 September 2004 23:29 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/want-a-regular-ruby-quiz-long/13630/23 "2004-09-17T23:29:45Z")

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James Edward Gray II \<james@grayproductions.net\> writes:

> > Perhaps we could take a favorite book, "Programming Pearls" by Jon  
> > Bently  
> > and use some of the puzzles contained therein. For example, from page  
> > 11:
> 
> I'm unfamiliar with this book, but it's looking good so far. Pick a  
> favorite problem or three and submit then to  
> rubyquiz@grayproductions.net when you have a chance.

Are you familiar with [http://acm.uva.es/problemset/](http://acm.uva.es/problemset/) ?

From the site:

"Here you will find hundreds of problems. They are like the ones used  
during programming contests, and are available in HTML and PostScript  
formats. You can submit (by web or mail) your C, C++, Pascal or Java  
sources, trying to solve any of the problems available in our  
database. Please read the docs if you want to know more about the  
submission methods and the judge itself."

Write a validator that accepts ruby solutions, and you'll become a  
hero overnight. 😉

> **···**
>
> > On Sep 17, 2004, at 11:39 AM, Mark Probert wrote:

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**Author:** ![Dave\_Mail\_Archive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@Dave\_Mail\_Archive](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Mail_Archive)\
**Post date:** [17 September 2004 17:29 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/want-a-regular-ruby-quiz-long/13630/24 "2004-09-17T17:29:45Z")

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> > &nbsp;&nbsp;[http://pragprog.com/pragdave/Practices/Kata](http://pragprog.com/pragdave/Practices/Kata)
> 
> Are you regularly adding more?

I plan to start again once I get this Ruby book put to bed.

> Does your mailing list see steady traffic?

Typically just when a new kata comes out. Then people like to discuss it (although we discourage posting solutions on the list itself)

Cheers

Dave

> **···**
>
> On Sep 17, 2004, at 12:27, James Edward Gray II wrote:

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**Author:** ![James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://rubytalk.org/u/James_Edward_Gray_II)\
**Post date:** [18 September 2004 14:48 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/want-a-regular-ruby-quiz-long/13630/25 "2004-09-18T14:48:31Z")

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I am now. Thank you for the rich link.

James Edward Gray II

> **···**
>
> On Sep 17, 2004, at 6:29 PM, George Ogata wrote:
> 
> > Are you familiar with [http://acm.uva.es/problemset/](http://acm.uva.es/problemset/) ?

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