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JAVA - random name generator

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clydejaw
Have you guys ever heard of the alphabet frequency table?

it's just like 0.0341 = a etc (not correct, but just an example)


Anyway, that's part of the point.

I need to make a random name generator. And each random number that it produces, it tries to match with the closest alphabet decimal number...

Anyone got ne ideas that I cud start off with! I have a few but I wanna see if there is a more efficient way of doing it.
snowboardalliance
probably a double[] with the "weight" of each letter in alphabetical order. Then like a[(int)"A"-65] should be the first index and so on.

Now I would then use a method like this
http://www.weberdev.com/get_example-4543.html
to pick the random letters. It's in php but the idea is the same.
clydejaw
cheers.

I actually found out that you have to write a big method like:

anotherRandNum = 5;
int rand = (int)(Math.random()...etc
String name ="";

for(int i = 0; i<anotherRandNum; i++){
if (rand == 0.12702){
name += "e";
}
}

something quite similar to that, except with the whole alphabet! and that's gonna take a bloody long time. IT's either that way, or I'll have to create an array and use recursive calls etc. : /!!!!!
Indi
clydejaw wrote:
cheers.

I actually found out that you have to write a big method like:

anotherRandNum = 5;
int rand = (int)(Math.random()...etc
String name ="";

for(int i = 0; i<anotherRandNum; i++){
if (rand == 0.12702){
name += "e";
}
}

something quite similar to that, except with the whole alphabet! and that's gonna take a bloody long time. IT's either that way, or I'll have to create an array and use recursive calls etc. : /!!!!!

Whoa. >_<

No, you don't need a big-ass switch statement (or a bunch of if statements) and you don't need recursion.

i don't understand what you're doing, but it sounds like something like this:
Code:
public class Test
{
   static private class CharacterFrequency
   {
      public float frequency;
      public char character;
     
      public CharacterFrequency(char c, float f)
      {
         character = c;
         frequency = f;
      }
   }
   
   static private CharacterFrequency[] frequencies;
   
   static
   {
      frequencies = new CharacterFrequency[]
      {
         new CharacterFrequency('a', 0.8f),
         new CharacterFrequency('c', 0.4f),
         new CharacterFrequency('g', 0.2f),
         new CharacterFrequency('t', 0.6f)
         // ...
         // Add as many as you need
      };
   }
   
   private static char getRandomCharacter()
   {
      float v = (float)Math.random();
     
      char c = frequencies[0].character;
      float f = frequencies[0].frequency;
     
      for (CharacterFrequency cf : frequencies)
      {
         if (v < cf.frequency && cf.frequency < f)
         {
            c = cf.character;
            f = cf.frequency;
         }
      }
     
      return c;
   }
   
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int desired_length = 5;
     
      StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer(desired_length);
     
      for (int i = 0; i < desired_length; ++i)
      {
         buf.append(getRandomCharacter());
      }
     
      System.out.println(buf.toString());
   }
}

That's just slapped together, and i haven't even really checked it, but it seems to work:
Code:
>java Test
caaag

>java Test
cagcg

>java Test
aaaaa

>java Test
agaga

>java Test
taaca

>java Test
aagta

That's just with 4 letters. You can add as many as you want, along with frequencies, or change the way the random variable determines the frequency (i used cumulative frequencies) and so on.
clydejaw
oh my god.

you just totally kicked my ass in java.

I normally/ and tend to make things more difficult. I use recursion when i'm lazy. I'm not quite familiar with float, but it seems good enough for me. It's just the little part of my assignment Neutral. Mine works, but it's less efficient and we all know that efficient is best Razz

cheers man Embarassed
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