What position is the letter A? Let's use a lookup table!

Rotted Frog

Just found this gem hiding in a project I've just inherited. Fortunately it doesn't appear to be used.

public class AlphabetPositionMap
{
private static Dictionary<char, int> alphabet = new Dictionary<char, int>();

static AlphabetPositionMap()
{
    alphabet.Add('A', 1);
    alphabet.Add('B', 2);
    alphabet.Add('C', 3);
    alphabet.Add('D', 4);
    alphabet.Add('E', 5);
    alphabet.Add('F', 6);
    alphabet.Add('G', 7);
    alphabet.Add('H', 8);
    alphabet.Add('I', 9);
    alphabet.Add('J', 10);
    alphabet.Add('K', 11);
    alphabet.Add('L', 12);
    alphabet.Add('M', 13);
    alphabet.Add('N', 14);
    alphabet.Add('O', 15);
    alphabet.Add('P', 16);
    alphabet.Add('Q', 17);
    alphabet.Add('R', 18);
    alphabet.Add('S', 19);
    alphabet.Add('T', 20);
    alphabet.Add('U', 21);
    alphabet.Add('V', 22);
    alphabet.Add('W', 23);
    alphabet.Add('X', 24);
    alphabet.Add('Y', 25);
    alphabet.Add('Z', 26);

}

public static int Position(char letter)
{
    return alphabet\[letter\];
}

}

Prizes awarded to anyone who can find a more pointless use of a lookup table.

Rage

Depending on what is done with the dictionary, it _might_ sometimes make sense. I have already been confronted with such things in the past, where such a silly-looking lookup table was the best way to fit a general syntax implementation for an automatic language parser. Otherwise, inline a return (letter-64)...

Do not escape reality : improve reality !

V 0

how about :

public class NumberMap
{
private static Dictionary number = new Dictionary();

static NumberMap()
{
    number.Add('1', 1);
    number.Add('2', 2);
    number.Add('3', 3);
    number.Add('4', 4);
    number.Add('5', 5);
    number.Add('6', 6);
    number.Add('7', 7);
    number.Add('8', 8);
    number.Add('9', 9);
    number.Add('0', 0);
}

}

V.
(MQOTD rules and previous solutions)

Lost User

So, the location of "a" is at "IndexOutOfRangeException"?

Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

OriginalGriff

Rotted Frog wrote:

Prizes awarded to anyone who can find a more pointless use of a lookup table.

Does this count? Converting dates to the Roman equivalent[^] The database is no longer available (thankfully, it was 75MB!) and sadly, nobody got the joke... :sigh:

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

Nagy Vilmos

That was written just before you stopped drinking? Yes?

veni bibi saltavi

Rotted Frog

That did have a point. It was actually quite a funny point.

Rotted Frog

yes, we need to add 'a' to 'z' in as well. I'll assign it out to one of my team to fix immediately.

Rotted Frog

Well done. You get all the bonus points.

OriginalGriff

It was written as a follow up to Converting numbers to the word equivalent. [^] since we were getting a lot of "Roman numbers" homework in QA back then.

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

Nagy Vilmos

So you'd moved off the booze by then; onto the class 'A' drugs. :laugh:

veni bibi saltavi

OriginalGriff

Class A++ I suspect... :~

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

Nagy Vilmos

Doing crack, heroin and meths is a stage people go through. Just don't do VB!

veni bibi saltavi

Rotted Frog

And it gets better... Just noticed the next class on from that one:

public class ZeroBasedAlphabetPositionMap
{
private static Dictionary<char, int> alphabet = new Dictionary<char, int>();

static ZeroBasedAlphabetPositionMap()
{
    alphabet.Add('A', 0);
    alphabet.Add('B', 1);
    alphabet.Add('C', 2);
    alphabet.Add('D', 3);
    alphabet.Add('E', 4);
    alphabet.Add('F', 5);
    alphabet.Add('G', 6);
    alphabet.Add('H', 7);
    alphabet.Add('I', 8);
    alphabet.Add('J', 9);
    alphabet.Add('K', 10);
    alphabet.Add('L', 11);
    alphabet.Add('M', 12);
    alphabet.Add('N', 13);
    alphabet.Add('O', 14);
    alphabet.Add('P', 15);
    alphabet.Add('Q', 16);
    alphabet.Add('R', 17);
    alphabet.Add('S', 18);
    alphabet.Add('T', 19);
    alphabet.Add('U', 20);
    alphabet.Add('V', 21);
    alphabet.Add('W', 22);
    alphabet.Add('X', 23);
    alphabet.Add('Y', 24);
    alphabet.Add('Z', 25);

}

public static int Position(char letter)
{
    return alphabet\[letter\];
}

}

Lost User

You should not pay developers by LOC :wtf:

Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

kmoorevs

:thumbsup: Nice find and thanks for sharing! I feel better now! :laugh:

"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse

PIEBALDconsult

How about adding another lookup that gets the uppercase equivalent of a lowercase letter?

Sascha Lefevre

Even more bonus points for a pointless lookup table for not being able to actually do a lookup :laugh:

If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't. — Lyall Watson

Lost User

AlphabetPositionMap seems to have a brother called ZeroBasedAlphabetPositionMap[^]. Yes, it is missing lowercaps variants, meaning there should at least be four of these methods. And globalization is missed completely. Scheiß drauf.

Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

PaulLinton

I thought I had a more useless lookup table, but I was wrong

private static Dictionary alphabet = new Dictionary();
static AlphabetPositionMap()
{
alphabet['A'] = 'A';
alphabet['B'] = 'B';
// you get the idea
}

I am wrong because it is only a small step from this code to creating an Enigma machine in software, which I believe had some amount of use a few years back. Failed at being useless :sigh: