Dominik Bathon wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 15:24:22 +0200, Ruby Quiz 
> <james / grayproductions.net>  wrote:
> 
>> Bonus points for finding the shortest chain and/or a small execution  
>> time.
> 
> 
> How about another bonus challenge:
> 
> If your program can find the shortest chain between two words, then  
> extend/modify it to find a longest shortest chain for all words with n  
> letters in the dictionary.
> In other words: find two words for which the shortest chain is at least 
> as  long as the shortest chain between any other word pair.
> 
> For example:
> 
> $ ruby longest_shortest.rb -d /usr/share/dict/words 4
> idol
> idyl
> odyl
> odal
> oral
> orad
> brad
> bead
> beak
> beck
> back
> bach
> each
> etch
> utch
> utah
> utas
> upas

And another challenge, explain all the words your program emits..

who/what/where is utas? or utch? even 'orad' seems totaly foreign
to me - but than perhaps thats normal as i'm just a german guy.

Back to your question, yes sounds more like a challenge (in terms
of acceptable runtime). I would like to suggest finding chains
between words of different lengths.

like this:

refugees
refugee
refuges
refutes
reputes
reputed
deputed
debuted
debated
rebated
related
relayed
delayed
decayed
decoyed
decoded
decodes
decides
deciles
defiles
refiles
refile
refine
repine
rapine
raping
rating
bating
basing
basin
basis
basts
bests
beats
beams
seams
shams
shame

don't get me wrong, i just think your dictionary is a bit over
the top...

cheers

Simon