Homework #7

Due Date: June 4, 2009 at 5:00PM Points: 100

Changes

All problems: The recursive functions can all be written without any looping. Please do not use any loops in your function.
Problem 1: Instead of ending the input with an end-of-file, end it with a blank line.

Written Exercises

None

Programming Exercises

Remember to turn in your error logs and refinement files.

  1. (30 points) Write a recursive function max to find the largest number in a list. The maximum number is the larger of the first item and the maximum of all the other items. Then write a program that prompts the user to enter numbers. The user should enter 1 number per line, and use a blank line to terminate the input. Your program then calls the recursive function to determine the maximum. Do not use any loops in your recursive function! Your program then prints that number. Please turn in the program in the file max.py.
    [text, §13.6, Programming Exercises problem 4, modified]
  2. (30 points) Write a recursive function that prints all the elements of a list of words, one per line. You may not use while or for loops to do the printing! The single parameter to the function is to be the word list. Then write a program to read a file containing a list of words and call your recursive function to print them. Do not use any loops in your recursive function! Please turn in the program in the file print.py.
  3. (40 points) A palindrome is a sentence that contains the same sequence of letters reading it either backwards or forwards (ignoring the case of the letters). A classic example is: “Able was I, ere I saw Elba.” Write a recursive function that detects whether a string is a palindrome. The basic idea is to check that the first and last letters of the string are the same letter; if they are, then the entire string is a palindrome if everything between those letters is a palindrome. There are a couple of special cases to check for. If either the first or last character of the string is not a letter, you can check to see if the rest of the string is a palindrome with that character removed. Also, when you compare letters, make sure that you do it in a case-insensitive way. Do not use any loops in your recursive function!
    Use your function in a program that prompts a user for a phrase and then tells whether or not it is a palindrome. Here’s another classic for testing: “A man, a plan, a canal-Panama!”
    Please turn in the program in the file rpal.py.
    Hint: Try solving this without worrying about punctuation and spacing. Once you have that, then add in the code to handle punctuation and spacing.
    [text, §13.6, Programming Exercises problem 3, modified]