Re: Iterating through string combinations

If what I think you're doing is correct, your main loop will be attempting to experience 7,958,661,109,946,400,884,391,936 iterations. I say attempting, because I doubt that you (or I, or my children's children) will live to see such a program complete.

What your incrementation scheme is basicly implementing is a base 36 (26 letters + 10 digits) number. You are incrementing it up to 16 digits, so you'll have 36 ^ 16th iterations (try bc(2) for a quick util that supports arbitrarily large numbers).

Perhaps there is a better way to attack the problem you're trying to solve? I won't go any further, as this looks not unlike an attempt at cracking passwords.

Comment on Re: Iterating through string combinations

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Re: Re: Iterating through string combinations by patgas (Friar) on Dec 18, 2001 at 10:31 UTC
Don't worry, it's nothing as malevolant as cracking passwords... While talking to a friend, I had a silly idea to create a Net::AIM bot that worked through all the AOL screen names to figure out the percentages of the 4 user types, and maybe how many screen names are actually still available. I did the math using the same base 36 idea as you, so I realized it was pretty much futile doing it like this. But I still wanted to write the code for it, even if the sun would explode before it finished... shrug Maybe in a few years when we have super nano quantum processors, I'll pull it off the shelf and run it then... Anyway, it was an interesting idea, sorta. "We're experiencing some Godzilla-related turbulence..."	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Iterating through string combinations by jbert (Priest) on Dec 18, 2001 at 14:08 UTC
If you want to work out percentages, what you really want to be doing is to randomly pick valid usernames and go from there. The code to randomly generate a username is left as an exercise for the reader. (minus 3 points for saying "Use the loop above to generate an array and then pick random elements from that", although I do grant that is how a mathematician would approach the problem.) Q: How does a mathematician boil an empty kettle? A: S/He fills the kettle, switches it on and waits for it to boil. Q: How does a mathematician boil a kettle full of water? A: S/He empties the kettle, reducing it to the previous problem. Disclaimer: I may have studied mathematics in the past...	[reply]