Anna Graham?

   No, kata number six is about anagrams, not some lady named Anna Graham.  Follow the link for more details, but briefly the objective is to load in a bunch of words, say which ones were anagrams of which, what the longest anagrammed word is, and what the largest set of anagrams (i.e., words using the same letters) is.  My solution hinges around the load_words method.  The implementation, in Ruby, complete with tests of course, is:

#! /usr/bin/ruby

# Dave Thomas Code Kata #6: Anagrams
# See http://codekata.pragprog.com/2007/01/kata_six_anagra.html
# for problem -- but not data, he's taken down the word list.
# Solution by Dave Aronson.
# Note, some of the things that are recalculated upon demand,
# could have been figured out up front once and for all and cached,
# and vice-versa.  Meant to show mix of options.  Real-world choice
# would depend on intended use.


class Anagram_Detector

  def initialize
    @sets = {}
    @longest_word = ''
    @longest_set = []
  end

  attr :sets
  attr :longest_set
  attr :longest_word

  def bad_sets
    @sets.reject { |key, val| val.length > 1 }
  end

  def canonicalize word
    word.split(//).sort.join
  end

  # TODO MAYBE: let user specify whether to
  # show anagrams of longest anagrammed word
  def dump
    puts 'Anagrams:'
    good_sets.each_pair { |key, val| puts "  #{key}: #{val.join ' '}" }
    puts "#{num_words} words in #{num_sets} sets"
    # note that the longest_word will always be the *first* of its set,
    # *in order of insertion*; whether that's alphabetical depends on use.
    # also it may not be the first one of its size, but the first one
    # with a second arrangement (i.e., an anagram) inserted.
    # further words of that same size will not replace it.
    puts "Longest word is #{@longest_word} (and its anagrams)"
    puts "Longest set is #{@longest_set.join ' '}"
    puts 'Others:'
    bad_sets.each_pair { |key, val| puts "  #{key}: #{val}" }
  end

  def good_sets
    @sets.reject { |key, val| val.length == 1 }
  end

  # TODO MAYBE: let user specify options, such as:
  # whether to fold case
  # whether to dump dupes
  # how to handle spaces
  def load_words words
    words.each do |word|
      letters = canonicalize word
      # could alternately use "sets.key? letters" but
      # we need to retrieve what's there (if any) anyway.
      so_far = @sets[letters]
      if so_far == nil
        so_far = []
      # only bother checking length upon finding 1st anagram
      elsif so_far.length == 1 and word.length > @longest_word.length:
        @longest_word = so_far[0] 
      end
      so_far << word
      @longest_set = so_far if so_far.length > @longest_set.length
      @sets[letters] = so_far
    end
  end

  def num_sets
    good_sets.length
  end

  def num_words
    good_sets.inject(0) { |count, set| count += set[1].length }
  end

end



# TESTS

Words = [ 'foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'clang', 'honk', 'tweet',
          'post', 'pots', 'spot', 'stop', 'tops',
          'dog', 'god', 'waster', 'waters', 'rawest' ]

require 'test/unit'

class TC_MyTest < Test::Unit::TestCase

  # WARNING: done by hand, so possibly wrong;
  # must be correct for tests to work correctly!
  # Should be the result for Words, below.
  Anagrammed_By_Hand = {
    'abr'      => [ 'bar' ],
    'abz'      => [ 'baz' ],
    'acgln'    => [ 'clang' ],
    'dgo'      => [ 'dog', 'god' ],
    'eettw'    => [ 'tweet' ],
    'foo'      => [ 'foo' ],
    'hkno'     => [ 'honk' ],
    'opst'     => [ 'post', 'pots', 'spot', 'stop', 'tops' ],
    'aerstw'   => [ 'rawest', 'waster', 'waters' ]
  }

  def setup
    @detector = Anagram_Detector.new
    @detector.load_words Words
  end

  def test_number_of_sets_match
    # beware magic numbers in tests... should find a way around this....
    assert_equal 3, @detector.num_sets
  end

  def test_number_of_words_match
    # beware magic numbers in tests... should find a way around this....
    assert_equal 10, @detector.num_words
  end

  # sort results just in case things got switched around;
  # it's set membership that's important, not order

  def test_keys_match
    assert_equal Anagrammed_By_Hand.keys.sort,
                 @detector.sets.keys.sort
  end

  def test_results_match
    @detector.sets.each_key do |key|
      assert_equal Anagrammed_By_Hand[key].sort,
                   @detector.sets[key].sort
    end
  end

  def test_got_right_longest_set
    assert_equal Anagrammed_By_Hand['opst'].sort,
                 @detector.longest_set.sort
  end

  def test_got_right_longest_word
    assert Anagrammed_By_Hand['aerstw'].include? @detector.longest_word
  end

  # TODO MAYBE: test erroneous conditions

end

detector = Anagram_Detector.new
detector.load_words Words
puts "Dump:"
detector.dump
puts "\nTests:"
# Test::Unit will run the tests AFTER this

   Another thing a bit unusual about this one is that I tried to make more use of Ruby's functional-style methods, like inject and reject.  (Sorry, Alice's Restaurant fans, I used inspect during informal testing, and select in a previous version, but couldn't find a decent excuse to use detect, and AFAIK there are no common Ruby classes with methods infect or neglect.)  Having "grown up" mostly with C, the imperative/procedural style is most intuitive to me.  However, IMNSHO, one should always strive to at least consider, or better yet understand, alternatives to The Way We've Always Done It -- and maybe even think up more.

   So now, as always, it's your turn. Comments? Questions? Concerns? Character assassinations? Compliments even?