Wordplay

You are filling out a crossword and need a word that fits the pattern E*G****R. What are your options? How many words have all 5 vowels in order? What's the only common English word that ends in 'mt'? Use Python to answer questions like this instantly while practicing manipulating data from a file and regular expressions.

Setup

See the Friday setup page and the section on installing dependencies for information on getting setup.

Handout

Wordplay handout: goals and cheat sheet.

Goals

• Have fun using Python to cheat at Scrabble and crosswords.
• Practice using lists and manipulating strings.

Ideas for exercises

• Find and print the words that start with "ee".
• Find and print the words that end in "mt". How about "gry"?
• Find and print the longest word that has no vowels.
• Find an print the words that contain 4 or more 'l's.
• Find and print the words that have all 5 vowels in alphabetical order.
• Look for other interesting properties of English words in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_with_uncommon_properties and write code to find the words that have these properties.