Re: Reg: tiny contest: who's faster? (add_a_gram)

"Pit Capitain" <[e-mail]> writes:

> Hi Dave, your code is fast, but you are cheating (a little bit ;-)
> Here are two word lists that break the algorithm:
> 
> Longest add-a-gram not beginning at 3 or less letters:
> 
>   nitons
>   intones
>   mentions
>   nominates
>   antimonies
>   inseminator
>   terminations
>   antimodernist
>   determinations
>   underestimation
>   underestimations
>   ant
>   ante
>   antre
>   atoner
>   another
>   antihero
>   anorthite
>   anorthites
>   antistrophe
>   attorneyship

I report 'attorneyship' for this sequence (Steven's code reports
'underestimations', but shows a list starting with 'nitons', which is
five characters long. The challenge says to start at 3 characters). Am
I missing something?

> * Should it only work with the given or with any word list?
> * Should it only print the last word or the whole sequence?

The challenge asks for the longest word, not the chain. However,
adding reporting for the whole chain barely affects the run time. I've
attached the new version.

However I do think it should work with any list.

> * Is it allowed to use C extensions or has it to be pure Ruby?

Pure Ruby, I'd say.


Dave