Code Golf: Playing Cubes

Language AgnosticCode GolfRosetta Stone

Language Agnostic Problem Overview


The challenge

The shortest code by character count, that will output playing bricks tower series according to user input.

The input will be a series of numbers (positive, negative and zero) that represents the height of the current cube tower following their index. A height of 0 means no tower and is spaced.

A cube tower is composed of stacked cubes. If the input number on the current index is positive, the cubes go up, if the input number is negative, the cubes go down. A single cube is drawn using the 4 following lines:

__
/__ /|
|   | |
|___|/

Cubes are 3D - this means they hide each other when two towers are placed next to each other, generating fake perspective.

All input can be assumed to be valid and without errors - Each number is separated with a white space on a single line, with at least one number.

Test cases

Input:
2 -3 -2 1 2 -1
Output:
__              __
/__ /|          /__ /|
|   | |        |   | |
||/|      /||/|
|   | |  |   |   | |
||/ /|||/ /|
|   |   | |     |   | |
|||/|     ||/
|   |   | |
|||/
|   | |
|_|/

Input:
1 2 3 4 -2 4 3 2 1
Output:
__      __
/__ /|  /__ /|
|   | | |   | |_
/||/| ||/ /|
|   |   | | |   |   | |_
/|||/| |||/ /|
|   |   |   | | |   |   |   | |_
/||||/| ||||/ /|
|   |   |   |   | ||   |   |   |   | |
|||||/|||||/
|   | |
||/|
|   | |
|___|/

Input:
1 3 3 7 0 -2 -2
Output:
__
/__ /|
|   | |
||/|
|   | |
||/|
|   | |
||/|
__  |   | |
/ /||/|
|   |   |   | |
||||/|
|   |   |   | |
/||||/|
|   |   |   |   | |    __  __
|||||/   /__ /__ /|
|   |   | |
|||/|
|   |   | |
|||/
Code count includes input/output (i.e full program).

Language Agnostic Solutions


Solution 1 - Language Agnostic

Perl 157 characters

This entry was inspired by gnibbler's Ruby entry, including the part about embedding the cube in the code. Also thanks to Kinopiko for schooling me on the 4 arg version of substr.

@O=($/.$"x99)x99;map{for$n(0..$_-1,$_..-1){map{substr$O[50-2*$n+$_],$W+4/$_,6,
(_,"__"
,"/__ /|",
"|   | |",
"|___|/")[$_]}1..4}$W+=4}@ARGV;print grep/\S/,@O

Explanation:

Line 1: Choose where cubes go
Lines 2-5: Put cubes where cubes go, print

Solution 2 - Language Agnostic

Ruby - 233

mutable strings ;) No arbitrary "99" limits. pfft :p
Had to lose the picture of the cube in the source though

S=gets.split.map{|x|x.to_i}<<0
S.max.downto(S.min){|y|e=" ";q=e*3;r=e*3
S.map{|x|a=0,x;if(w=a.min)<=y&&x!=0&&y<z=a.max
r[-3,4]="|   | |";q[-3,4]="|___|/"+(y>w ?"|":e)else(z=z!=y)?q+=e*4:q[-2,4]="/__ /|"
r+=z ?e*4:"__  "end}
puts r,q}

Ruby - 243

Delete the extra space I put in there to get the nice picture of the cube

S=gets.split.map{|x|x.to_i}<<0
S.max.downto(S.min){|y|e=" ";q=e*3;r=e*3
S.map{|x|a=0,x;if(w=a.min)<=y&&x!=0&&y<=z=a.max
if z==y;r+="__  "
 q[-2,3]="/__ /|"else
r[-3,4]="|   | |"
q[-3,4]="|___|/"+(y>w ?e:"|")end
else r+=e*4;q+=e*4 end}
puts r,q}

$ echo 1 3 7 3 3 |ruby pc.rb
__
/__ /|
| | |
||/|
| | |
|
|/|
| | |
||/|
| | |
__
/
||/ /__ /|
| | | | | |
|
||||/|
| | | | | |
/|
|
|||/|
| | | | | | |
|
||||_|/

Solution 3 - Language Agnostic

Python - 249

The second for loop is indented with tab

S=map(int,raw_input().split())+[0]
for y in range(max(S),min(S)-1,-1):
 q=r=e=" "*4
 for x in S:
	w=x*(x<0);z=x*(x>0)
	if w<=y<z:r=r[:-3]+"|   | |";q=q[:-3]+"|___|/"+" |"[y>w]
	elif(y==z)*x:q=q[:-2]+"/__ /|";r+="__  "
	else:q+=e;r+=e
 print r+"\n"+q

Python - 393

S=map(int,raw_input().split())+[0]
for Y in range(max(S),min(S)-1,-1):
 Q=R="";B=s=t=" "*4;N=0
 for y in S:
  if(y>0)*(y==Y)+(Y==0)*(y<0):
   q="_  _";r=" /__";s="_   ";t=" /| "
   if(N<y>0)+(N==0):q="   _"
   if y<N>0:q="| |_";r="|/__"
  elif(y>Y>=0)+(y<=Y<0):q="|   ";r="|___";s="| | ";t="|/"+("| "[(y==Y<0)+(Y==0)])+" "
  else:q=s;r=t;s=t=B
  Q+=q;R+=r;N=y
 print Q.rstrip()+"\n"+R.rstrip()

Solution 4 - Language Agnostic

Ruby, 261 258 250 242

c=[]
n=99
$F.map{|e|e=e.to_i
c<<(e<0?[e,-1]:[0,e-1])}
m=[]
x=0
c.map{|d|x+=4
k,l=d
(k+n..l+n).map{|y|y*=2
[[3,3,2,'__'],[2,1,6,'/__ /|'],[1,0,7,'|   | |'],[0,0,6,'|___|/']].map{|e|a,b,c,s=e
(m[y+a]||=' '*79)[x+b,c]=s}}}
puts m.compact.reverse

Run with ruby -n -a v2.rb

This entry is slightly overdesigned in that it can begin and end stacks at any level, not just at 0. There is no way to specify this in the "competition version", but if you replace the first 4 lines with c=eval $_;n=99 then it drops to 203 bytes and you can do: <

[[-3,3],[-3,-2],[2,3],[-3,-3],[-2,-1],[3,3],[2,2],[1,1],[0,0]]

__      __          __
/__ /| /__ /| /__ /|
| | | | | | | | |__
||/| ||/| ||/ /|
| | | | | | | | |__
|
|/| ||/ ||/ /|
| | | | | |__
||/| ||/__ /|
| | | __ | | |
||/| / /| ||/
| | |
| | |
||/ /| ||/|
| | | | | | |
|
||/| /||/
| | | | | | |
|
||/ |_|/

Solution 5 - Language Agnostic

Befunge-93 (too many characters)

Very unoptimized. My first Befunge program. =]

>:88+v6 &gt;11p&gt;:!|v                 g13$&lt;       v            $&lt;  000090#8 + &gt;      &gt;68*31p  v &gt;     1-:!|!:-1g14&lt;p+g11g13+g12g 14&lt;    __  :* *      5 ^       &lt; &gt; 31pvvp16&lt;&gt;:41p1- 31g1+g :68*-!#^_ ^  /__ /||\-6      &gt;&gt;1-:       |^8   &lt; $&lt;|       g16 $<   <
|   | |>-*8 ^ ^ p11-2g11-1$  <    >31g   11g+:::51g |   1 |___|/   8^0     &gt;#-#&lt;           v    ^&lt;             &gt;51p^         &lt;  &lt;         |0:       p 56 p34:p30:p26:p25:p22:p21:p20:68<
^  v95:< 6^ 2:  -10<           >21g4+21p 11
1  >-   |            >     > 31g51gg,31g21g-3-!#v_v
1   >$ ^v<                 | ,+55-g16p15+1:g15   <
|!-*48 <> ^                ^           p13+1g13   <
>   ^                      @

Solution 6 - Language Agnostic

Haskell, 349 characters:

r=replicate
f=foldl
k=repeat
o n a s=r n a++s++k a
main=do{a<-getLine;let{n=map read$words a;u=f max 0 n;d=f min 0 n;i=r(2*(1+u-d))$r(4*length n+3)' '};putStr$unlines$f(\j(x,n)->f(\i y->[[if a=='x'then b else a|(a,b)<-zip m n]|(m,n)<-zip(o(2*(u-y))(k 'x')$map(o(4*x)'x')["xxx__xx","x/__ /|","|   | |","|___|/x"])i])j[1+min 0 n..max 0 n])i$zip[0..]n}

Solution 7 - Language Agnostic

Golfscript - 154

Newlines are significant. If you fail to strip the trailing newline you will get an extra number printed at the bottom! There is a TAB between - and 0

" "4*:s%{~}%0+: $):
;0=:g;{2,{:r;s {[
-	0
-]$(:b\(:t\;=!t!0t<1b>*2*+*[{s}[{"__  "}{-2<"/__ /|"}]r={-3<["|   | |""|___|/"["| "b!=]+]r=}]\=~+}%n}%
(:
g<!}do

Golfscript - 163

0`+" ":s%{~}%:A$):y;0=1-:g;{2,{:r;3s*A{[y- 0y-]$(:b\(:t\;=!:j;[{4s*}[{"__  "}{-2<"/__ /|"}]r={-3<["|   | |""|___|/"["| "b!=]+]r=}]0t=0t<1b>*2*+j*=~+}%n}%y(:y g>}do

Golfscript - 165

0`+" ":s%{~}%:A$):y;0=1-:g;{2,{:r;3s*A{[y- 0y-]$(:b\(:t\;=!:j;[{4s*}.{"__  "}{-2<"/__ /|"}{-3<"|   | |"}{-3<"|___|/"["| "b!=]+}]0t=2*0t<1b>*4*+r+j*=~+}%n}%y(:y g>}do

Solution 8 - Language Agnostic

C, 287 characters

#define F(r)for(r=0;r<98;r++)
#define C(y,s)for(k=0;s[k];k++)b[49-i][w+k+y]=s[k];i++;
char k,i,j,w,t,b[98][99];main(c,v)char**v;{F(i)F(j)b[i][j]=32;
for(j=0;j<c;j++){i=2*atoi(v[j]);t=0;if(i>0)t=i,i=0;for(;i<t;i-=2){
C(0,"|___|/")C(0,"|   | |")C(1,"/__ /|")C(3,"__")}w+=4;}F(i)puts(b[i]);}

(this character count excludes two newlines)

This runs as a command line program, like

./cubes 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 3 2 -1 -10

You can try running it here: http://codepad.org/tu4HDqSy (This version is altered because codepad.org doesn't allow command line arguments.)

A handy tip for un-golfing is to run it through cpp and then indent:

char                k        , i, j, w, t, b[98][99];
main(c, v)
    char          **v;
{
    for (i = 0; i < 98; i++)
        for (j = 0; j < 98; j++)
            b[i][j] = 32;
    for (j = 0; j < c; j++) {
        i = 2 * atoi(v[j]);
        t = 0;
        if (i > 0)
            t = i, i = 0;
        for (; i < t; i -= 2) {
            for (k = 0; "|___|/"[k]; k++)
                b[49 - i][w + k + 0] = "|___|/"[k];
            i++;
            for (k = 0; "|   | |"[k]; k++)
                b[49 - i][w + k + 0] = "|   | |"[k];
            i++;
            for (k = 0; "/__ /|"[k]; k++)
                b[49 - i][w + k + 1] = "/__ /|"[k];
            i++;
            for (k = 0; "__"[k]; k++)
                b[49 - i][w + k + 3] = "__"[k];
            i++;
        } w += 4;
    } for (i = 0; i < 98; i++)
        puts(b[i]);
}

Solution 9 - Language Agnostic

Python (2.6), 1092 905 623 501 478 345 --> 318 characters

All comments welcome!

r=range;p="  __","/__ /|","|   | |","|___|/"
l=map(int,raw_input().split())+[0];d=max(l)
g=[[" "]*(len(l)+1)*4 for i in r(d-min(l)+1)*2]
for i,e in enumerate(l):
 for x,y in sorted([(i*4,(d-e+y-(0,1)[e<0])*2)for y in r(0,e,(1,-1)[e<0])])[::-1]:
  for i in r(4):g[y+i][(x,x+1)[i<2]:x+6]=p[i]
for k in g:print ''.join(k)

Solution 10 - Language Agnostic

627 bytes of VB.NET 9 (without counting new lines)

Dim a As New List(Of Int32)
Dim b=InputBox("").Split(" ".ToCharArray)
For Each d In b
a.Add(Int32.Parse(d))
Next
Dim e=New String(){"|___|/","|   | |","/__ /|","__"}
Dim f=a.Min
Dim g=a.Max
Dim h=a.Count
Dim i As New List(Of String)
Dim j=(If(g>0,g,0)+If(f<0,-f,0))*2+1
For d=0To j
i.Add(Space(h*6))
Next
For d=f To g
If (d<>0) Then
For k=0To 3
Dim l=i(j)
Dim m=0
While m<h
If (d<0And a(m)<=d)Or(d>0And a(m)>=d) Then
Dim n=m*4+If(k>1,(k-2)*2+1,0)
l=l.Substring(0,n)&e(k)&l.Substring(n+e(k).Length)
i(j)=l
endif
m+=1
End While
j-=1
Next
j+=2
EndIf
Next
For Each d In i
Console.WriteLine(d)
Next

Solution 11 - Language Agnostic

Lua, 453 characters

s=io.read("*l")x={}for v in s:gmatch("-?%d+")do x[#x+1]=tonumber(v)end m=math
u=unpack s=string c={s.byte("   __   /__ /||###|#||___|/ ",1,28)}t=m.max(0,u(x))-1
b=m.min(0,u(x))l=#x*4+3 a={}for n=b,t do for p,v in ipairs(x)do y=n<0 and v<=n
or n>=0 and v>n for i=1,4 do e=(t-n)*2+i a[e]=a[e]or{}for j=1,7 do
d=c[(i-1)*7+j]f=(p-1)*4+j a[e][f]=y and d~=32 and d or a[e][f] or 32 end
end end end for i,v in ipairs(a)do print((s.char(u(v)):gsub("#"," ")))end

Solution 12 - Language Agnostic

313 bytes of Ruby

c=gets.split.map{|n|n.to_i}+[0];l=[" "*(c.length*5)]*((c.max-c.min)*2+2)
c.each_index{|i|h=c[i];h==0&&next
(h<0?(h...0):(0...h)).to_a.each{|b|y=c.max*2+1-b*2;x=i*4;s=(x+7)..-1
4.times{|a|l[y-a]=l[y-a][0,x+[0,0,1,3][a]]+['|___|/','|   | |','/__ /|','__'][a]+(l[y-a][[(x+6)..-1,s,s,s][a]]||'')}}};l.each{|e|puts e}

(There is one newline that doesn't count, it's only there because otherwise there would be a very long line in there.)

I used the obvious method of making a 2D array of characters and pasting in the cubes one at a time, bottom to top and left to right.

Solution 13 - Language Agnostic

PHP - 447 398

I Know it's not as short as the others here, but I'm happy with it ;)

<?$g=$argv;unset($g[0]);$c=array('|___|/',' '=>'|   | |','/__ 
/|',3=>'__');$x=max(max($g),0);$m=$i=min(min($g),0);$row=$y=0;
while($x>=$i){$n=$row++*2;foreach ($c as $w=>$p){
$L[]=str_pad('',count($g)*4," ");$t='';$y=0;foreach ($g as $h)
{if((($h>=$i&&$i>0)||($h<$i&&$i<=0)))$L[$n]=substr_replace($L[$n],$p,4*$y+$w,
strlen($p));$y++;}$n++;}$i++;}array_splice($L,$n);krsort($L);
print implode("\n",$L);?>

Input / Output

   C:\development\code-golf>php cubes1.php 1 2 1 -5 -5 4 3 3
                       __
                     /__ /|
                    |   | |__  __
                    |___|/__ /__ /|
       __           |   |   |   | |
     /__ /|         |___|___|___|/|
   _|   | |__       |   |   |   | |
 /__|___|/__ /|     |___|___|___|/|
|   |   |   | |__  _|   |   |   | |
|___|___|___|/__ /__|___|___|___|/
            |   |   | |
            |___|___|/|
            |   |   | |
            |___|___|/|
            |   |   | |
            |___|___|/|
            |   |   | |
            |___|___|/|
            |   |   | |
            |___|___|/

Attributions

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Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionLiraNunaView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Language AgnosticmobView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Language AgnosticJohn La RooyView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Language AgnosticJohn La RooyView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Language AgnosticDigitalRossView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Language AgnosticstragerView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Language AgnosticcomingstormView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Language AgnosticJohn La RooyView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Language Agnosticuser181548View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Language AgnosticChristopheDView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Language AgnosticAnaxView Answer on Stackoverflow
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