/// <summary>
/// Pick names for a squad of six robots. Uses names from the list provided.
/// Base names are non-repeating and start with different letters.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="names"></param>
/// <returns>An array containing 6 strings.</returns>
public string[] PickRobotSquadNames(List <string> names)
{
// call a class that can take the given list and break it into categories.
ListConverter lc = new ListConverter();
Dictionary <char, List <string> > alphabetDict =
lc.GetAlphabetDict(names);
// fill chosenNames array with 6 letters from the alphabet
AlphabetLettersForNames();
// use letter chosen in previous step as a key in the alphabetic dictionary.
// pick a random name from the sublist found in the dict, to replace the letter.
// if a sublist in the dict is empty, we leave the capitalized letter as the name.
// robot names can be short, after all.
int i = 0;
foreach (string item in _chosenNames)
{
var list = alphabetDict[item.ElementAt(0)];
if (list.Count() > 0)
{
_chosenNames[i] = list[_r.Next(list.Count())];
}
i++;
}
ApplyPrefix();
ApplyPostfix();
return(_chosenNames);
}
/// <summary>
/// Same as PickRobotSquadNames(List) but should be slightly more efficient with
/// memory usage because it doesn't need a dictionary object for its alphabetic
/// splitting process.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="names"></param>
/// <returns>An array containing 6 strings for a "robot squad".</returns>
public string[] PickRobotSquadNamesOptimized(List <string> names)
{
// call a class that can take the given list and break it into categories
ListConverter lc = new ListConverter();
var listArray = lc.GetAlphabetizedArray(names);
// fill chosenNames array with 6 letters from the alphabet
AlphabetLettersForNames();
// use letter chosen in previous step as a key in alphabetized array of size 26.
// pick a random name from the sublist found in the array, to replace the letter.
// if a sublist in the array is empty, we leave the capitalized letter as the name.
// robot names can be short, after all.
int i = 0;
foreach (string item in _chosenNames)
{
//var list = alphabetDict[item.ElementAt(0)];
int k = (int)Enum.Parse(typeof(AlphabetEnum), item.ElementAt(0).ToString());
var list = listArray[k];
if (list.Count() > 0)
{
_chosenNames[i] = list[_r.Next(list.Count())];
}
i++;
}
ApplyPrefix();
ApplyPostfix();
return(_chosenNames);
}