JavaScript Kata #7: A Needle in the Haystack

By YayoDrayber | Learn To Code With Me | 10 Aug 2022

If you missed the introductory post, it's here. For a list of previously solved katas, please refer to the bottom of this page.

If this is your first time seeing my post, please note - these katas are probably randomly assigned per user so please don't go into Codewars thinking we will have exactly the same user experience, I am just posting these in the order that I got them.

Kata #7

DESCRIPTION:

Can you find the needle in the haystack?

Write a function findNeedle() that takes an array full of junk but containing one "needle"

After your function finds the needle it should return a message (as a string) that says:

"found the needle at position " plus the index it found the needle, so:

Example(Input --> Output)

["hay", "junk", "hay", "hay", "moreJunk", "needle", "randomJunk"] --> "found the needle at position 5"

Starting code:

function findNeedle(haystack) {
  // your code here
}

My attempt:

function findNeedle(haystack) {
  // your code here
  for (i = 0 ; i < haystack.length ; i++){
    if(haystack[i]==="needle"){
      return "found the needle at position " + i
    }
  }
}

Fair warning folks, I thought the solutions page would just be like the challenges I've done before but I've been wrong before so strap in because it's going to get wild. Ranked #1 in 'Best Practice' with 944 votes and 298 'Clever' votes at the time of writing is this:

function findNeedle(haystack) {
  return "found the needle at position " + haystack.indexOf("needle");
}

Coming in at rank #2 which shooketh me goes to this one with 325 votes and 1120 'Clever' votes at the time of writing:

var a = "a";
var b = "b";
var c = "c";
var d = "d";
var e = "e";
var f = "f";
var g = "g";
var h = "h";
var i = "i";
var j = "j";
var k = "k";
var l = "l";
var m = "m";
var n = "n";
var o = "o";
var p = "p";
var q = "q";
var r = "r";
var s = "s";
var t = "t";
var u = "u";
var v = "v";
var w = "w";
var x = "x";
var y = "y";
var z = "z";
var space = " ";

var theWordNeedleWhichWillNeedToBeFoundWithinTheHaystackContainingTheNeedle = [].concat(n).concat(e).concat(e).concat(d).concat(l).concat(e).join('');
var returnStringPrefix = [].concat(f).concat(o).concat(u).concat(n).concat(d).concat(space).concat(t).concat(h).concat(e).concat(space).concat(n).concat(e).concat(e).concat(d).concat(l).concat(e).concat(space).concat(a).concat(t).concat(space).concat(p).concat(o).concat(s).concat(i).concat(t).concat(i).concat(o).concat(n).concat(space).join('');

function findNeedle ( theHaystackContainingTheNeedle )
{
  var indexOfNeedleWithinTheHaystackContainingTheNeedle = -1;
  var numberOfStrawsPlusTheNeedleThatAreContainedWithinTheGiantHaystackContainingTheNeedleWhichIsProbablyLocatedInAFieldSomewhereNearABarnOnAFarmPotentiallyWithinTheVicinityOfRuralTexas = getLengthOfArrayContainingElements( theHaystackContainingTheNeedle );
  for(
    var currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop = 0;
    currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop <= numberOfStrawsPlusTheNeedleThatAreContainedWithinTheGiantHaystackContainingTheNeedleWhichIsProbablyLocatedInAFieldSomewhereNearABarnOnAFarmPotentiallyWithinTheVicinityOfRuralTexas;
    currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop = currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop + 1
  )
  {
    if(currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop < 0)
    {
      throw new Error("This shouldn\"t happen".replace("\u0022","\u2019"));
    }

    if(currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop > numberOfStrawsPlusTheNeedleThatAreContainedWithinTheGiantHaystackContainingTheNeedleWhichIsProbablyLocatedInAFieldSomewhereNearABarnOnAFarmPotentiallyWithinTheVicinityOfRuralTexas)
    {
      throw new Error("This shouldn\"t happen".replace("\u0022","\u2019"));
    }
    
    var theValueOfTheCurrentStrawOrNeedleThatResidesWithinTheLargeHaystack = getElementFromArrayGivenIndex( theHaystackContainingTheNeedle, currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop );

    if( theValueOfTheCurrentStrawOrNeedleThatResidesWithinTheLargeHaystack === theWordNeedleWhichWillNeedToBeFoundWithinTheHaystackContainingTheNeedle) {
      indexOfNeedleWithinTheHaystackContainingTheNeedle = currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop;
    }
  }

  var theCompleteReturnValueContainingTheReturnPrefixAndTheIndexOfTheNeedleWithinTheHaystackContainingTheNeedle = returnStringPrefix.split('').concat(indexOfNeedleWithinTheHaystackContainingTheNeedle).join('');
  
  return theCompleteReturnValueContainingTheReturnPrefixAndTheIndexOfTheNeedleWithinTheHaystackContainingTheNeedle;
}

function getElementFromArrayGivenIndex( arrayContainingElements, indexToRetrieveFromArrayContainingElements )
{
  var valueFromArrayWhereIndexWasBeingSearchedFor = -1;
  var numberOfElementsInArrayContainingElements = getLengthOfArrayContainingElements(arrayContainingElements);
  for(
    var currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop = 0;
    currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop <= numberOfElementsInArrayContainingElements;
    currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop = currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop + 1
  )
  {
    if(currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop < 0)
    {
      throw new Error("This shouldn\"t happen".replace("\u0022","\u2019"));
    }

    if(currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop > numberOfElementsInArrayContainingElements)
    {
      throw new Error("This shouldn\"t happen".replace("\u0022","\u2019"));
    }
    
    var valueBasedOnCurrentIndexOfTheArrayThatIsCurrentlyBeingReferencedWithinTheExecutingForLoop = arrayContainingElements[ currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop ];

    if(currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop === indexToRetrieveFromArrayContainingElements)
    {
      valueFromArrayWhereIndexWasBeingSearchedFor = valueBasedOnCurrentIndexOfTheArrayThatIsCurrentlyBeingReferencedWithinTheExecutingForLoop;
    }
  }
  
  return valueFromArrayWhereIndexWasBeingSearchedFor;
}

function getIndexFromArrayGivenValue( arrayContainingElements, valueForWhichToUseToFindTheIndexAndRetrieveItFromArrayContainingElements )
{
  var indexFromArrayWhereValueWasFound = -1;
  var numberOfElementsInArrayContainingElements = getLengthOfArrayContainingElements(arrayContainingElements);
  for(
    var currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop = 0;
    currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop <= numberOfElementsInArrayContainingElements;
    currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop = currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop + 1
  )
  {
    if(indexFromArrayWhereValueWasFound > -1)
    {
      continue;
    }

    var valueBasedOnCurrentIndexOfTheArrayThatIsCurrentlyBeingReferencedWithinTheExecutingForLoop = getElementFromArrayGivenIndex( arrayContainingElements, currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop );

    if( valueBasedOnCurrentIndexOfTheArrayThatIsCurrentlyBeingReferencedWithinTheExecutingForLoop === valueForWhichToUseToFindTheIndexAndRetrieveItFromArrayContainingElements )
    {
      indexFromArrayWhereValueWasFound = currentIndexOfTheCurrentlyExecutingForLoop;
    }
  }
  
  return indexFromArrayWhereValueWasFound;
}

function getLengthOfArrayContainingElements( arrayContainingElementsForWhichToRetreiveTheLengthFrom )
{
  var theLengthOfTheArrayContainingElementsForWhichToRetreiveTheLengthFrom = arrayContainingElementsForWhichToRetreiveTheLengthFrom.length;

  if(theLengthOfTheArrayContainingElementsForWhichToRetreiveTheLengthFrom < 0)
  {
    theLengthOfTheArrayContainingElementsForWhichToRetreiveTheLengthFrom = 0;
  }

  return theLengthOfTheArrayContainingElementsForWhichToRetreiveTheLengthFrom;
}

Insane trolling right here. It's like sending a text message to someone but in morse code in this day and age. It seems this was done with the objective of trying to write out the longest solution, so I guess they achieved that and are very pleased with themselves now with all the votes that they got. Maybe the 'Clever' votes in this case were meant like a "haha very funny" way. So I guess a shoutout is in order for these four persons who are the first comedians I've encountered on this platform: