💡 Problem Formulation: The problem focuses on taking a list of words and translating each to their equivalent Morse code. The goal is to identify the count of unique Morse code representations. For example, given an input ["gin", "zen", "gig", "msg"], the desired output would be 2, since the words translate to two unique Morse code sequences.
Method 1: Using a Dictionary and Set
This method uses a dictionary to map each alphabet character to its corresponding Morse code. A set is then used to capture unique Morse code translations of the list of words. The method is straightforward and efficient for calculating the count of unique Morse code words.
Here’s an example:
def unique_morse_representations(words):
MORSE_CODE_DICT = {'a': '.-', 'b': '-...', 'c': '-.-.', ... 'z': '--..'}
unique_codes = {''.join([MORSE_CODE_DICT[char] for char in word]) for word in words}
return len(unique_codes)
words = ["gin", "zen", "gig", "msg"]
print(unique_morse_representations(words))Output: 2
This code defines a function unique_morse_representations() that converts each word in a list to Morse code using a dictionary and comprehensions, then adds the results to a set to count unique items. It is efficient as set operations in Python are optimized for uniqueness checks.
Method 2: Mapping Function and Transform
The mapping function method applies a transformation to each word in the input list using the Morse code dictionary. A map function is used to streamline the conversion from alphabet characters to Morse code, which is then processed into a set to identify unique values.
Here’s an example:
MORSE_CODE_DICT = {'a': '.-', 'b': '-...', ... 'z': '--..'}
def to_morse(word):
return ''.join(MORSE_CODE_DICT[char] for char in word)
words = ["gin", "zen", "gig", "msg"]
unique_morse_codes = set(map(to_morse, words))
print(len(unique_morse_codes))Output: 2
This snippet creates a function to_morse() to convert individual words into Morse code and then maps it across the list of words. A set collects unique Morse code words, and its length is printed. This method is clean and uses functional programming style.
Method 3: Using itertools and Lambda Functions
In this method, Python’s itertools chain function combines lists of Morse code characters and lambda functions to streamlinethe transforming process. This is a more advanced and terse method that may be suitable for functional programming enthusiasts.
Here’s an example:
from itertools import chain
words = ["gin", "zen", "gig", "msg"]
MORSE_CODE_DICT = {'a': '.-', 'b': '-...', ... 'z': '--..'}
unique_morse_codes = set(map(lambda word: ''.join(chain(*[MORSE_CODE_DICT[char] for char in word])), words))
print(len(unique_morse_codes))
Output: 2
This uses a lambda function to convert words to Morse code within the map call. The itertools chain function is employed to efficiently concatenate Morse code characters. The resulting set contains only unique representations.
Method 4: Using functools.partial and List Comprehension
This involves the functools module’s partial function to pre-fill the Morse code dictionary parameter in another function. This avoids repeating the dictionary throughout the code, which, combined with list comprehension, is both efficient and readable.
Here’s an example:
from functools import partial
MORSE_CODE_DICT = {'a': '.-', 'b': '-...', ... 'z': '--..'}
to_morse = partial(lambda dct, word: ''.join(dct[char] for char in word), MORSE_CODE_DICT)
words = ["gin", "zen", "gig", "msg"]
unique_morse_codes = {to_morse(word) for word in words}
print(len(unique_morse_codes))Output: 2
By using functools.partial, the example creates a partially applied function that captures the Morse code dictionary as its first argument. It then iterates over every word, transforming it into Morse code. A set comprehension ensures uniqueness of the resultant Morse code sequences.
Bonus One-Liner Method 5: Using a Generator Expression
For the fans of concise Python one-liners, this method employs a generator expression within a set constructor to achieve the same result as previous methods in a single line of code. This is Python’s spirit of being compact and readable.
Here’s an example:
MORSE_CODE_DICT = {'a': '.-', 'b': '-...', ... 'z': '--..'}
words = ["gin", "zen", "gig", "msg"]
print(len(set(''.join(MORSE_CODE_DICT[char] for char in word) for word in words)))
Output: 2
This one-liner uses a generator expression to create Morse code strings from words and pass them directly into a set, ensuring all Morse code words are unique. The len function then quickly determines the count.
Summary/Discussion
- Method 1: Dictionary and Set. Strengths: Intuitive and efficient. Weaknesses: Requires the complete Morse code dictionary to be defined.
- Method 2: Mapping Function. Strengths: Clean functional programming style. Weaknesses: Might be less intuitive for beginners.
- Method 3: itertools and Lambda Functions. Strengths: Compact and advanced technique. Weaknesses: Can be less readable due to complexity of itertools.
- Method 4: functools.partial. Strengths: DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle friendly. Weaknesses: Explicit import of functools may be undesirable for simple tasks.
- Method 5: Generator Expression. Strengths: Extremely compact, ideal for one-liners. Weaknesses: Readability might suffer for those not familiar with generator expressions.