reformatting words.txt (was RE: $100 Contest Question)

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I asked the question about reformatting words.txt a couple of days ago.

The answer was:
No for the Medium contest - ie use words.txt exactly as the spell 
checker

Yes for the hard contest - meaning you reformat it whatever you want.


Ray


bensler at mail.com wrote:
> I'm able to load up Junko's Words.txt and format it in 0.11 seconds, 
> done when the library loads. This could be sped up quite a bit if I can 
> use a preformatted version of words.txt.
> 
> PIII 600mhz
> Chris
> 
> 
> Derek Parnell wrote:
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <bensler at mail.com>
> > To: "EUforum" <EUforum at topica.com>
> > Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 4:17 PM
> > Subject: RE: $100 Contest Question
> > 
> > 
> > > Derek, are you using a preformatted version of words.txt, or are you
> > > formatting it within your program? It sounds like the latter, which I
> > > don't think is allowed.
> > >
> > > Chris
> > >
> > >
> > The short answer is both.
> > 
> > For comp#2, the algorithm I used when the matching routine is called 
> > was:
> >    If the internal dictionary is not set up,
> >        look for a file called 'dict.dat'.
> >        If that is present, use it's contents to
> >             set up the internal dictionary.
> >        otherwise look for 'words.txt'.
> >        If that is present, use it's contents to
> >             set up the internal dictionary, then
> >             write out the internal dictionary to
> >             'dict.dat' using a special format.
> > 
> > In either case, there is a small delay the first time the routine is 
> > called
> > while it initialises the internal dictionary. Only with the dict.dat 
> > file,
> > this delay is a lot smaller than with words.txt. Once the dictionary is 
> > set
> > up, find the matching words is lightening fast.
> > 
> > When I submitted my program to Robert yesterday, the wording of the
> > competition did not say "You must use words.txt contained in Junko's 
> > spell
> > checker in the Archive." So I guess the rules have changed after my
> > submission! Oh well. Of course, in one sense. I did use Junko's file - 
> > to
> > create a reformatted one - and I can use Junko's file if the dict.dat 
> > file
> > is not present.
> > 
> > I wrote the program as if it was to be used in the real world, not just 
> > some
> > artificial competetion environment. Thus the routine that uses words.txt 
> > 
> > is
> > not hyper-optimised as I was only going to use it once to create the
> > dict.dat file. That file is the optimised one.
> > 
> > If Robert rules against this concept, I guess I can submit another 
> > version
> > of the program.
> > -----
> > Derek.
> > 
> > 



Ray Smith
http://rays-web.com

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