Flames Algorithm

Implementation in C++

Check out the implementation in Python here: AmruthPillai/FlamesAlgorithm-Python
Check out the implementation in Java/Android here: AmruthPillai/FlamesAlgorithm-Android

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Logo

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Description

The game of FLAMES is apparently a popular game played by teenagers as a way to deal with the unpredictability of their romantic relationships. This belongs to the vast class of prediction devices such as the counting of petals, numerological tricks, horoscopes and the like. However, unlike many of these other methods, the FLAMES game is based on a transparent deterministic algorithm.

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How To Play

The rules of the FLAMES game can be described as follows. Take the names of two people, usually of opposite genders, and cross out all the common letters in the two names. Count the total number of letters that remain in both names after this procedure. Let this number of mismatches be m.

Now write FLAMES on a piece of paper. Count through the letters of this string starting from F to S and cycling back through F till m letters have been counted. At this point, cross out the letter in FLAMES at which the count ends (say A). Restart counting from the next letter (here M) through the string FLMES. Repeat this till five of the letters of FLAMES have been crossed out and only one letter remains.

The final letter that remains is the predicted nature of the relationship between the two people whose names were initially chosen, where F = “Friend”, L = “Love”, A = “Affection”, M = “Marriage”, E = “Enemy”, S = “Sibling”. The rationale (or the lack of it) for these interpretations is beyond the scope of this repository.

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Algorithm

Step 1: ReadName Procedure

1. Read two strings from the user and store it in yourName & partnerName, respectively
2. Remove spaces from both strings, if any
3. Convert both strings to lowercase (or uppercase)
4. Calculate the length of both strings and store in yourNameLength & partnerNameLength respectively

Step 2: EliminateCommonCharacters Procedure

1. FOR i in every character in yourName till yourNameLength
   1. FOR j in every character in partnerName till partnerNameLength
   1. IF a character yourName[i] is equal to a character in partnerName[j] THEN
   2. Remove the character from the strings yourName and partnerName
   3. Break the inner loop as soon as a match is found, otherwise all instances of that character will be deleted
   4. END IF 2. END FOR
2. END FOR
3. Concatenate both strings and store it in completeName and calculate the length of it to be stored in completeNameLength

Step 3: FlamesCalculation Procedure

1. Declare a string "FLAMES" with the variable FLAMES and store it's length of 6 in a variable flamesLength
2. Declare a variable index to store the index of the character to be striked out
3. WHILE length of FLAMES is not equal to 1, do the following:
   1. index <- completeNameLength % flamesLength
   2. IF (index == 0) THEN
   3. Remove the last character of FLAMES
   4. ELSE
   5. Remove the character that index is currently pointing toward in FLAMES
   6. Extract a substring of FLAMES from (index) to end, and another substring from start to (index). Concatenate the two substrings and overwrite FLAMES
   5. END IF
   6. Decrement flamesLength by 1
4. END WHILE
5. At the end of the WHILE loop, the prediction will be the last remaining character of the FLAMES, which we will store in flamesResult

Step 4: DisplayResult Procedure

1. IF flamesResult is
   1. F, THEN
   display "yourName & partnerName are friends!"
   2. L, THEN
   display "yourName & partnerName are lovers!"
   2. A, THEN
   display "yourName & partnerName are affectionate to each other!"
   2. M, THEN
   display "yourName & partnerName are or will be married!"
   2. E, THEN
   display "yourName & partnerName are enemies!"
   2. S, THEN
   display "yourName & partnerName are or are like siblings!"
   2. END IF

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Authors

Amruth A. Pillai - Facebook Profile
Email: im.amruth(at)gmail.com

Prabhu B. - Facebook Profile
Email: im.prabhu(at)gmail.com