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Posted on Aug 29, 2019

Daily Challenge #52 - Building a Pyramid

#challenge

Challenge
Write a function that will draw a pyramid. The function should take one integer parameter that will describe how many lines tall the pyramid should be.

This challenge is simple, but requires a bit of reflection to get it right. Here is an example in Node.js hosted on Repl.it.

Example
pyramid(5);

Good luck!

This challenge comes from @aminnairi here on DEV! Want to propose a challenge idea for a future post? Email yo+challenge@dev.to with your suggestions!

Top comments (20)

Chris Achard • Aug 29 '19

Fun challenge :) I did it in React, so here's the function:

  const pyramid = count => {
    return Array(count).fill().map((_, n) => {
      return <span key={n}>
        {Array((n + 1)*2 - 1).fill().map(i => {
          return "*"
        })}
      </span>
    })
  }

and here's a demo!

Aadi Bajpai • Aug 29 '19

Python one-liner yet again :)

>>> pyramid = lambda x: print('\n'.join(f'{a}' for a in [' '*(((2*(x-i)-1)//2))+'*'*(i*2+1) for i in range(x)]))
>>> pyramid(5)
    *
   ***
  *****
 *******
*********
>>> pyramid(4)
   *
  ***
 *****
*******
>>> pyramid(1)
*

Dev Prakash • Sep 4 '19

Impeccable

Alvaro Montoro • Aug 29 '19

CSS

This is a variation of my solution for challenge #2. Just add the class "triangle" to a block element, and specify the lines in the CSS variable --stars:

.triangle {
  --stars: 10;
  width: calc(2 * var(--stars) * 10px);
  height: calc((var(--stars)) * 15px);
  background-image: url('data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10px" height="15px" viewBox="0 0 10 15"><text x="5" y="12" fill="black" dominant-baseline="middle" text-anchor="middle">*</text></svg>');
  background-position: top center;
  clip-path: polygon(50% 0, 100% 100%, 0% 100%);
}

The idea is having an inline SVG background with the asterisks, then clipping the shape of the triangle. Here is a demo on Codepen:

Donald Feury • Aug 29 '19 • Edited

I have no Go pun this time. Sorry, I need coffee for that.

pyramid.go

package pyramid

// Pyramid creates a text pyramid of the given height
func Pyramid(height int) string {
    if height <= 0 {
        return ""
    }

    // Determine width of pyramid base
    width := (height * 2) - 1

    // Get middle of pyramid
    middle := int(width / 2)
    row := 0

    // Initialize a base row with only spaces
    base := make([]rune, width, width)
    for i := range base {
        base[i] = ' '
    }

    // Set the top row 'block'
    base[middle] = '*'

    var pyramid string

    // Build the pyramid starting from the top
    for row < height {
        base[middle+row] = '*'
        base[middle-row] = '*'
        pyramid += string(base) + "\n"

        row++
    }

    return pyramid
}

pyramid_test.go

package pyramid

import "testing"

func TestPyramid(t *testing.T) {
    testCases := []struct {
        description string
        input       int
        expected    string
    }{
        {
            "small pyramid",
            3,
            "  *  \n *** \n*****\n",
        },
        {
            "no height",
            0,
            "",
        },
        {
            "negative height",
            -3,
            "",
        },
        {
            "big pyramid",
            7,
            "      *      \n     ***     \n    *****    \n   *******   \n  *********  \n *********** \n*************\n",
        },
    }

    for _, test := range testCases {
        if result := Pyramid(test.input); result != test.expected {
            t.Fatalf("FAIL: %s - Pyramid(%d): %s, expected: %s", test.description, test.input, result, test.expected)
        }
        t.Logf("PASS: %s", test.description)
    }
}

Josh • Aug 29 '19

Since this is pretty much the top half of a string diamond I took my answer from that challenge and used just the first half of the code but it isn't working like expected, can someone tell me where I went wrong? 😥

Ruby:

def riamond_i_mean_ryramid(karat)
  unless karat.odd? && karat > 0
    raise ArgumentError.new("You want a #{karat} karat ~~diamond~~ pyramid? That's crazy!")
  end
  cut = 1
  layers = []
  until cut > karat
    layers.push(("*" * cut).center(karat))

La blatte • Aug 29 '19 • Edited

Here it is!

// Minified
f=(a)=>[...Array(a)].map((_,i)=>(c=' '.repeat(a-i),`${c}${'*'.repeat(2*i+1)}${c}`)).join`\n`

// Readable
const pyramid = (input) => {
  return [...Array(input)].map((_, index) => {
    const padding = ' '.repeat(input - index);
    const stars = '*'.repeat(2 * index + 1);
    return `${padding}${stars}${padding}`;
  }).join('\n');
}

The right padding isn't necessary, but hey why not

'\n' + pyramid(10)
"
          *          
         ***         
        *****        
       *******       
      *********      
     ***********     
    *************    
   ***************   
  *****************  
 ******************* "

Kerri Shotts • Aug 31 '19

My try. I used padStart and padEnd, and abused default parameters a bit, just for fun.

const PYRAMID = "*";
const AIR = "·";

const pyramid = (n, {maxWidth = (n * 2) - 1, leftPadding = maxWidth / 2} = {}) => 
    Array.from({length: n}, (_, idx, __, {width = (( idx + 1 ) * 2) - 1} = {}) => 
        PYRAMID.repeat(width)
            .padStart(idx + leftPadding + 1, AIR)
            .padEnd(maxWidth, AIR)
    ).join("\n");

Alvaro Montoro • Aug 29 '19

This is really close to challenge #2

Olek Ria • Aug 29 '19

F#:

let pyramid (x: int) =
  let print maxWidth count =
    (String.replicate (maxWidth - count) " ") + (String.replicate (2*count-1) "*")

  let pr = (x - 1) * 2 + 1 |> print

  for i in [1..x] do
     i |> pr |> printfn "%s"

Jamal • Aug 30 '19

Javascript, can be run from the command line:

const floors = Number(process.argv[2]);

for (let currentFloor = 1; currentFloor <= floors; currentFloor += 1) {
  console.log(
    '*'.repeat(2 * currentFloor - 1)
      .padStart((floors + currentFloor - 1), ' '),
  );
}

View full discussion (20 comments)

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Daily Challenge #52 - Building a Pyramid

Top comments (20)

Warp is the #1 coding agent.

Okay