Terminal games

Notes on the Le Wagon Parsing Numbers and Letters exercise

The goal of this challenge is to write a simplified version of the game ‘countdown’ from the terminal where:

  • You are given a random set of letters.
  • You have to enter the longest english word you can find using only letters in the grid.
  • After typing your answer, you get your score combined with the time you took, and eventually an error message if you failed.

This exercise is easily seen as being overwhelming at first but if we break it down into stages it will become much clearer.

We have two files for this. The first file is our file ‘longest_word.rb’ where we will define all our methods needed to build this mini game. Our second file is our interface.rb. This is where we will interact with the user and get their input.

As we go through this challenge we will write a method and then introduce the code required in the interface asscoiated with the method.

Set up

To start with we need to put these at the start of our longest_word.rb file

  • require 'open-uri' -> Allows it to open an http, https or ftp URL as though it were a file.
  • require 'json' -> It provides an API for parsing JSON

We need a require_relative "longest_word" at the top of our interface.rb file so that it can access the methods in the longest_word.rb file.

Generating the sample of numbers

Lets write a method which will create the list of letters that our user is able to pick from.

def generate_grid(grid_size)
   Array.new(grid_size) { ('A'..'Z').to_a.sample }
end

Here, we create a new array with Array.new. We give it an argument of grid_size and pass it a block to populate the array with. In this block we give it a range of capital letters from A-Z which we call .to_a on in order to transform it into an array. We also call .sample which will take a sample of grid_size letters from this range. In other words whatever number is given as the grid_size correlates to the amount of letters it will sample.

We can now implement our first interface.rb logic which will interract with this method.

puts "******** Welcome to the longest word-game!********"
puts "Here is your grid:"
grid = generate_grid(9)
puts grid.join(" ")
puts "*****************************************************"

Here, we simply puts a few statements to speak to our user. We then create a variable grid. This is equal to calling our generate_grid method and passing it the value of 9. Therefore the method will provide a sample of 9 letters.

We have an important puts statement here of grid.join(" "). This will simply join the sample of letters together with a space between all on one line. If we did not have this .join method they would display vertically in the terminal.

Checking to see if guess is included

def included?(guess, grid)
  guess.chars.all? { |letter| guess.count(letter) <= grid.count(letter) }
end

This method included? takes two parameters of guess and grid.

We call .chars on guess which will split the guess up into seperate characters. We also call .all? which will pass each element to the given block.

In our block we call .count(letter) on guess with an argument of letter. This will count the amount of elements in the array which are equal to letter. We check to see if this is less than or equal to (<=) the amount of times letter appears in grid.

Working out the score

def compute_score(attempt, time_taken)
  time_taken > 60.0 ? 0 : attempt.size * (1.0 - time_taken / 60.0)
end

This method compute_score takes two parameters of attempt and time_taken.

Using a ternary operator here, we say is time_taken greater than 60 seconds. If it is then the score will be equal to 0. However, if it is, then perform this calculation. We say the size of the attempt (how many letters the user picked) multiplied by the sum of doing (1.0 - time_taken / 60.0).

Checking to see if it is an english word

def english_word?(word)
  response = open("https://wagon-dictionary.herokuapp.com/#{word}")
  json = JSON.parse(response.read)
  return json['found']
end

This method english_word? takes one parameter of word.

We create a variable of reponse. This is equal to opening the given site with the word interpolated at the end. We use the open command for this.

We create another variable called json. This is how we will use the JSON API. It allows us to recieve the data from the website. We give it an argument of response.read. This allows it to read the infomration but nothing else.

We then return json['found']. This will return true or false depening on if the word was found in the dictionary or not.

Getting the user inputs for time and attempt

puts "What's your best shot?"
start_time = Time.now
attempt = gets.chomp
end_time = Time.now

We start with a puts statement which ask the user a question

We then make three variables

  • start_time which is equal to the time this starts

  • attempt which is equal to the input entered by the user

  • end_time which is equal to the time after this process has finished.

Check to see if letters are included and if its an english word

def score_and_message(attempt, grid, time)
  if included?(attempt.upcase, grid)
    if english_word?(attempt)
      score = compute_score(attempt, time)
      [score, "well done"]
    else
      [0, "not an english word"]
    end
  else
    [0, "not in the grid"]
  end
end

This method score_and_message this takes three parameters of attempt, grid and time.

We start with an if statement which runs the method we wrote earlier included?. It passes it the required two variables of attempt and grid. We call .upcase on attempt in order to ensure the letters are all in capitals.

Inside this if statement we check to see if it is an english word by calling the english_word?method and giving it the argument of attempt (the users guess). We then create a variable called score which is equal to running the compute_score method. We give it the arguments of attempt and time. From this we generate an array. Inside this array we have the score in the first position and the message “well done” in the last position. Our else statement (If its not an english word) generates an array with 0 as the score and "not an english word" as the message.

The else statement for if it is inside the grid or not also generates an array which contains a 0 as the score and "not in the grid" as the message.

Final method to run the game

Our final method is the method that brings everything together so that we can play our game.

def run_game(attempt, grid, start_time, end_time)
  result = { time: end_time - start_time }

  score_and_message = score_and_message(attempt, grid, result[:time])
  result[:score] = score_and_message.first
  result[:message] = score_and_message.last

  result
end

This method of run_game takes three parameters of attempt, grid, start_time and end_time

We start by creating a hash called result. Inside this hash we have one key of time: and its value of end_time - start_time.

We then add a new key into our hash which is called result[:score]. This is equal to running the score_and_message method and selecting the first element in the returned array (the score).

We add another key into our hash which is called result[:message]. This is equal to his is equal to running the score_and_message method and selecting the last element in the returned array (the message).

We end by returning result which included all this data.

Displaying result to the user

Our last thing needed for the interface is how we display this information to the user.

puts "******** Now your result ********"

result = run_game(attempt, grid, start_time, end_time)

puts "Your word: #{attempt}"
puts "Time Taken to answer: #{result[:time]}"
puts "Your score: #{result[:score]}"
puts "Message: #{result[:message]}"

puts "*****************************************************"

We set result as equal to running the run_game method and passing in the required variables.

We lastly have four puts statements which return the information from result by interpolating the arguments and selecting the relevant keys.

Final code for longest_word.rb

require 'open-uri'
require 'json'

# 1
def generate_grid(grid_size)
  Array.new(grid_size) { ('A'..'Z').to_a.sample }
end

# 2
def included?(guess, grid)
  guess.chars.all? { |letter| guess.count(letter) <= grid.count(letter) }
end

# 3
def compute_score(attempt, time_taken)
  time_taken > 60.0 ? 0 : attempt.size * (1.0 - time_taken / 60.0)
end

# 4
def english_word?(word)
  response = open("https://wagon-dictionary.herokuapp.com/#{word}")
  json = JSON.parse(response.read)
  puts json['found']
end

# 5
def score_and_message(attempt, grid, time)
  if included?(attempt.upcase, grid)
    if english_word?(attempt)
      score = compute_score(attempt, time)
      [score, "well done"]
    else
      [0, "not an english word"]
    end
  else
    [0, "not in the grid"]
  end
end

# 6
def run_game(attempt, gsrid, start_time, end_time)
  result = { time: end_time - start_time }

  score_and_message = score_and_message(attempt, grid, result[:time])
  result[:score] = score_and_message.first
  result[:message] = score_and_message.last

  result
end

Final code for interface.rb

require_relative "longest_word"

puts "******** Welcome to the longest word-game!********"
puts "Here is your grid:"
grid = generate_grid(9)
puts grid.join(" ")
puts "*****************************************************"

puts "What's your best shot?"
start_time = Time.now
attempt = gets.chomp
end_time = Time.now

puts "******** Now your result ********"

result = run_game(attempt, grid, start_time, end_time)

puts "Your word: #{attempt}"
puts "Time Taken to answer: #{result[:time]}"
puts "Your score: #{result[:score]}"
puts "Message: #{result[:message]}"

puts "*****************************************************"