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Knock off the black and white lightning! (Asshole.)
ITA Software has programming puzzles posted on their website. You're supposed to take a crack at one (and submit your source code) before interviewing there, and the puzzles take some time, which is probably why I hear they're having a tough time hiring. Nonetheless, I did a puzzle last weekend and am about to submit it now.
How long a chain of overlapping movie titles, like "Live and Let Die Another Day of the Dead Poets Society", can you find? (They provide a text file consisting of 6561 movie titles to play with.)
I can find a chain of 211 movie titles:
10 ITEMS OR LESS THAN ZERO DAY FOR NIGHT AND DAY OF THE DEAD BANG BANG YOURE DEAD END OF DAYS OF HEAVEN CAN WAIT UNTIL DARK BLUE CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU CAN COUNT ON ME MYSELF I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART CONDITION RED DAWN OF THE DEAD HEAT AND DUST TO GLORY ROAD GAMES PEOPLE PLAY NEW YORK COP LAND OF THE DEAD MAN OF THE HOUSE OF DRACULA DEAD AND LOVING IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA OF LOVE AND DEATH BECOMES HER MAJESTY MRS BROWN SUGAR AND SPICE WORLD TRADE CENTER STAGE FRIGHT NIGHT AND THE CITY OF ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES OF DEATH SHIP OF FOOLS RUSH IN COLD BLOOD BEACH PARTY GIRL IN THE CADILLAC MAN ON FIRE IN THE SKY HIGH CRIMES OF PASSION IN THE DESERT HEARTS OF DARKNESS A FILMMAKERS APOCALYPSE NOW YOU SEE HIM NOW YOU DONT BOTHER TO KNOCK OFF THE BLACK AND WHITE LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE ROCKET MAN TROUBLE EVERY DAY OF THE WOMAN ON TOP GUN CRAZY AS HELL NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY ALASKA SPIRIT OF THE WILD BILL AND TEDS BOGUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY MONEY FOR NOTHING BUT TROUBLE IN PARADISE ROAD HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL UP IN HARLEM RIVER DRIVE ME CRAZY PEOPLE I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER CATCH A FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN MEN CRY BULLETS OVER BROADWAY DANNY ROSE RED EYE FOR AN EYE OF GOD TOLD ME TO DIE FOR LOVE OF THE GAME OF DEATH WISH UPON A STAR TREK IV THE VOYAGE HOME ALONE IN THE DARK CITY OF JOY RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY LIFE AS A HOUSE PARTY MONSTER HOUSE PARTY 3 NINJAS KICK BACK TO SCHOOL OF ROCK STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE BRIDE OF THE MONSTER IN A BOX OF MOON LIGHT IT UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL BEST FRIENDS AND LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET JOE BLACK HAWK DOWN TO YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE AROUND THE BEND OF THE RIVER WILD THINGS TO COME AND GET IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT STAND IN GODS HANDS ON A HARD BODY AND SOUL FOOD OF LOVE LIFE WITH FATHER OF THE BRIDE OF THE WIND AND THE LION KING OF THE JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE BOOK OF LOVE WALKED IN OLD CALIFORNIA SPLIT SECOND BEST OF THE BEST OF EVERYTHING RELATIVE FEAR X THE MAN WITH THE X RAY EYES OF AN ANGEL BABY SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND OF THE LOST BOYS DONT CRY BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL TIME WALKER
Ahhhh, programming is cool. Some nice gems hidden in my answer:
LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU
GOD TOLD ME TO DIE FOR LOVE OF THE GAME OF DEATH
KNOCK OFF THE BLACK AND WHITE LIGHTNING
Anyone happen to have a text file full of book titles I could run this on? That would probably be even more amusing.
How long a chain of overlapping movie titles, like "Live and Let Die Another Day of the Dead Poets Society", can you find? (They provide a text file consisting of 6561 movie titles to play with.)
I can find a chain of 211 movie titles:
10 ITEMS OR LESS THAN ZERO DAY FOR NIGHT AND DAY OF THE DEAD BANG BANG YOURE DEAD END OF DAYS OF HEAVEN CAN WAIT UNTIL DARK BLUE CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU CAN COUNT ON ME MYSELF I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART CONDITION RED DAWN OF THE DEAD HEAT AND DUST TO GLORY ROAD GAMES PEOPLE PLAY NEW YORK COP LAND OF THE DEAD MAN OF THE HOUSE OF DRACULA DEAD AND LOVING IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA OF LOVE AND DEATH BECOMES HER MAJESTY MRS BROWN SUGAR AND SPICE WORLD TRADE CENTER STAGE FRIGHT NIGHT AND THE CITY OF ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES OF DEATH SHIP OF FOOLS RUSH IN COLD BLOOD BEACH PARTY GIRL IN THE CADILLAC MAN ON FIRE IN THE SKY HIGH CRIMES OF PASSION IN THE DESERT HEARTS OF DARKNESS A FILMMAKERS APOCALYPSE NOW YOU SEE HIM NOW YOU DONT BOTHER TO KNOCK OFF THE BLACK AND WHITE LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE ROCKET MAN TROUBLE EVERY DAY OF THE WOMAN ON TOP GUN CRAZY AS HELL NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY ALASKA SPIRIT OF THE WILD BILL AND TEDS BOGUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY MONEY FOR NOTHING BUT TROUBLE IN PARADISE ROAD HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL UP IN HARLEM RIVER DRIVE ME CRAZY PEOPLE I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER CATCH A FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN MEN CRY BULLETS OVER BROADWAY DANNY ROSE RED EYE FOR AN EYE OF GOD TOLD ME TO DIE FOR LOVE OF THE GAME OF DEATH WISH UPON A STAR TREK IV THE VOYAGE HOME ALONE IN THE DARK CITY OF JOY RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY LIFE AS A HOUSE PARTY MONSTER HOUSE PARTY 3 NINJAS KICK BACK TO SCHOOL OF ROCK STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE BRIDE OF THE MONSTER IN A BOX OF MOON LIGHT IT UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL BEST FRIENDS AND LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET JOE BLACK HAWK DOWN TO YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE AROUND THE BEND OF THE RIVER WILD THINGS TO COME AND GET IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT STAND IN GODS HANDS ON A HARD BODY AND SOUL FOOD OF LOVE LIFE WITH FATHER OF THE BRIDE OF THE WIND AND THE LION KING OF THE JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE BOOK OF LOVE WALKED IN OLD CALIFORNIA SPLIT SECOND BEST OF THE BEST OF EVERYTHING RELATIVE FEAR X THE MAN WITH THE X RAY EYES OF AN ANGEL BABY SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND OF THE LOST BOYS DONT CRY BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL TIME WALKER
Ahhhh, programming is cool. Some nice gems hidden in my answer:
LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU
GOD TOLD ME TO DIE FOR LOVE OF THE GAME OF DEATH
KNOCK OFF THE BLACK AND WHITE LIGHTNING
Anyone happen to have a text file full of book titles I could run this on? That would probably be even more amusing.
no subject
no subject
It's basically a depth-first tree search algorithm, memoized for speed (which means it doesn't run the search starting with the same movie title twice). It allows one-word and two-word overlaps of movie titles (and I was too lazy to generalize that any further). It's not guaranteed to get the best answer, but it runs in about 3 seconds! I'm pretty happy with it.
no subject
"LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU" sounds like the beginning of an infomercial or investigative report.
Incidentally, one of the things I'm working on is creating a UX aptitude test (really qa aptitude) for us to administer. I told the guy I'm working with that I don't necessarily think it's a good idea, since the company already administers a 2hr logic/programming aptitude test as part of the hiring process, and we don't want to make the hurdle too high, especially for a traditional qa position. But, it's a fun project, so I didn't press that point all that hard.