Exploring Computer Science: Web Unit

Random Numbers

A valuable element in user interaction is the introduction of random numbers

The first example simply generates a random number between 1 and 7.

In the next example, the user has to guess a number between 1 and 7.

In the third example, a Shakespearean insult is generated by combining three phrases from three different arrays (lists) into one phrase.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
		<title>Shakespearean Insults</title>
		<script type="text/javascript">
		
function generateRandom(num){
	return parseInt(Math.random() * num);
}

function generateInsult() {

firstPhrase = new Array("artless","bawdy","beslubbering","bootless","churlish","clouted",
    "cockered","craven","currish","dankish","dissembling","droning","errant","fawning",
    "fobbing","frothy","froward","gleeking","goatish","gorbellied","impertinent",
    "infectious","jarring","loggerheaded","lumpish","mammering","mangled","mewling",
    "paunchy","pribbling","puking","puny","qualling","rank","reeky","roguish","ruttish",
    "saucy","spleeny","spongy","surly","tottering","unmuzzled","vain","venomed",
    "villainous","warped","wayward","weedy","yeasty");

secondPhrase = new Array("base-court","bat-fowling","beef-witted","beetle-headed",
    "boil-brained","clapper-clawed","clay-brained","common-kissing","crook-pated",
    "dismal-dreaming","dizzy-eyed","doghearted","dread-bolted","earth-vexing",
    "elf-skinned","fat-kidneyed","fen-sucked","flap-mouthed","fly-bitten",
    "folly-fallen","fool-born","full-gorged","guts-griping","half-faced","hasty-witted",
    "hedge-born","hell-hated","idle-headed","ill-breeding","ill-nurtured","knotty-pated",
    "milk-livered","motley-minded","onion-eyed","plume-plucked","pottle-deep",
    "pox-marked","reeling-ripe","rough-hewn","rude-growing","rump-fed","shard-borne",
    "sheep-biting","spur-galled","swag-bellied","tardy-gaited","tickle-brained",
    "toad-spotted","urchin-snouted","weather-bitten");

thirdPhrase = new Array("apple-john","baggage","barnacle","bladder","boar-pig","bugbear",
    "bum-bailey","canker-blossom","clack-dish","clotpole","codpiece","coxcomb","death-token",
    "dewberry","flap-dragon","flax-wench","flirt-gill","foot-licker","fustilarian",
    "giglet","gudgeon","haggard","harpy","hedge-pig","horn-beast","hugger-mugger",
    "joithead","lewdster","lout","maggot-pie","malt-worm","mammet","measle","minnow",
    "miscreant","moldwarp","mumble-news","nut-hook","pigeon-egg","pignut","pumpion",
    "puttock","ratsbane","scut","skainsmate","strumpet","varlet","vassal","wagtail",
    "whey-face");
   
    r1=generateRandom(firstPhrase.length);
    r2=generateRandom(secondPhrase.length);
    r3=generateRandom(thirdPhrase.length);
    
    insult="Thou "+ firstPhrase[r1] + " " + secondPhrase[r2] + " " + thirdPhrase[r3] + ".";
    
	document.forms.f.insult.value=insult;
}

</script>
	</head>
	<body onload="generateInsult()">
		<form name="f">
			<input type='text' name='insult' style='width:300px;'>
		</form>

<a href="#" onclick="generateInsult()">insult</a><br>

</body>
</html>

View Result

Sample Projects

Students will create a poetry generating web page using the same techniques as the previous exercise. If possible, include random generation of images and/or background colors.