1 files changed, 130 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/codewalk/markov.go b/doc/codewalk/markov.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..959c2b158
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/codewalk/markov.go
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+// Copyright 2011 The Go Authors.  All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+/*
+Generating random text: a Markov chain algorithm
+
+Based on the program presented in the "Design and Implementation" chapter
+of The Practice of Programming (Kernighan and Pike, Addison-Wesley 1999).
+See also Computer Recreations, Scientific American 260, 122 - 125 (1989).
+
+A Markov chain algorithm generates text by creating a statistical model of
+potential textual suffixes for a given prefix. Consider this text:
+
+	I am not a number! I am a free man!
+
+Our Markov chain algorithm would arrange this text into this set of prefixes
+and suffixes, or "chain": (This table assumes a prefix length of two words.)
+
+	Prefix       Suffix
+
+	"" ""        I
+	"" I         am
+	I am         a
+	I am         not
+	a free       man!
+	am a         free
+	am not       a
+	a number!    I
+	number! I    am
+	not a        number!
+
+To generate text using this table we select an initial prefix ("I am", for
+example), choose one of the suffixes associated with that prefix at random
+with probability determined by the input statistics ("a"),
+and then create a new prefix by removing the first word from the prefix
+and appending the suffix (making the new prefix is "am a"). Repeat this process
+until we can't find any suffixes for the current prefix or we exceed the word
+limit. (The word limit is necessary as the chain table may contain cycles.)
+
+Our version of this program reads text from standard input, parsing it into a
+Markov chain, and writes generated text to standard output.
+The prefix and output lengths can be specified using the -prefix and -words
+flags on the command-line.
+*/
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"rand"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Prefix is a Markov chain prefix of one or more words.
+type Prefix []string
+
+// String returns the Prefix as a string (for use as a map key).
+func (p Prefix) String() string {
+	return strings.Join(p, " ")
+}
+
+// Shift removes the first word from the Prefix and appends the given word.
+func (p Prefix) Shift(word string) {
+	copy(p, p[1:])
+	p[len(p)-1] = word
+}
+
+// Chain contains a map ("chain") of prefixes to a list of suffixes.
+// A prefix is a string of prefixLen words joined with spaces.
+// A suffix is a single word. A prefix can have multiple suffixes.
+type Chain struct {
+	chain     map[string][]string
+	prefixLen int
+}
+
+// NewChain returns a new Chain with prefixes of prefixLen words.
+func NewChain(prefixLen int) *Chain {
+	return &Chain{make(map[string][]string), prefixLen}
+}
+
+// Build reads text from the provided Reader and
+// parses it into prefixes and suffixes that are stored in Chain.
+func (c *Chain) Build(r io.Reader) {
+	br := bufio.NewReader(r)
+	p := make(Prefix, c.prefixLen)
+	for {
+		var s string
+		if _, err := fmt.Fscan(br, &s); err != nil {
+			break
+		}
+		key := p.String()
+		c.chain[key] = append(c.chain[key], s)
+		p.Shift(s)
+	}
+}
+
+// Generate returns a string of at most n words generated from Chain.
+func (c *Chain) Generate(n int) string {
+	p := make(Prefix, c.prefixLen)
+	var words []string
+	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
+		choices := c.chain[p.String()]
+		if len(choices) == 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		next := choices[rand.Intn(len(choices))]
+		words = append(words, next)
+		p.Shift(next)
+	}
+	return strings.Join(words, " ")
+}
+
+func main() {
+	// Register command-line flags.
+	numWords := flag.Int("words", 100, "maximum number of words to print")
+	prefixLen := flag.Int("prefix", 2, "prefix length in words")
+
+	flag.Parse()                  // Parse command-line flags.
+	rand.Seed(time.Nanoseconds()) // Seed the random number generator.
+
+	c := NewChain(*prefixLen)     // Initialize a new Chain.
+	c.Build(os.Stdin)             // Build chains from standard input.
+	text := c.Generate(*numWords) // Generate text.
+	fmt.Println(text)             // Write text to standard output.
+}