First Javascript program. What am I doing wrong? - javascript

I have finally gotten around to creating my first little practice program in Javascript. I know it's not elegant as it could be. I have gotten most of this code to work, but I still get an "undefined" string when I run it a few times. I don't know why. Would someone be kind enough to explain to me where this undefined is coming from?
var work = new Array();
work[1] = "product design";
work[2] = "product system design";
work[3] = "product social media post x5";
work[4] = "product Agent Recruitment system design";
work[5] = "product profile system design";
work[6] = "product Agent testing design";
work[7] = "product customer support";
work[8] = "product promotion";
var course = new Array();
course[1] = "javascript";
course[2] = "mandarin";
course[3] = "javascript practical-Code Academy";
course[4] = "javascript practical-learn Street";
course[5] = "mandarin practical-memrise";
course[6] = "new stuff with audiobooks";
var activity = new Array();
activity[1] = "listen to podcasts";
activity[2] = "chat online";
activity[3] = "Exercise";
activity[4] = "take a walk";
activity[5] = "call a friend";
var picker1 = Math.floor(Math.random()*3+1);
var picker2 = Math.floor(Math.random()*work.length+1);
var picker3 = Math.floor(Math.random()*course.length+1);
var picker4 = Math.floor(Math.random()*activity.length+1);
var group_pick = function(){
if(picker1 === 1){
return "Time to work on ";
} else if(picker1 === 2){
return "Time to learn some ";
} else if (picker1 === 3){
return "Lets relax and ";
} else {
return "error in group_pick";
}
};
var item_pick = function() {
if (picker1 === 1) {
return work[picker2] ;
} else if (picker1 === 2) {
return course [picker3] ;
} else if (picker1 === 3) {
return activity[picker4] ;
} else {
return "error in item_pick";
}
};
var task = group_pick() + item_pick();
document.write(task);

Array's start with an index of zero. When you assign a value to the 1 index, a 0 index is created you, with no value (undefined).
var arr = new Array();
arr[1] = 'hi!';
console.log(arr); // [undefined, "hi!"]
console.log(arr.length) // 2
Length is 2, check that out. You thought you had one item in that array but length is 2.
Usually it's easier to not manage the array indices yourself. And the array literal syntax is usually preferred for a number of reasons.
var arr = [];
arr.push('hi!');
console.log(arr); // ["hi!"]
console.log(arr.length) // 1
Or just create the array with the items in it directly, very handy.
var arr = [
"hi",
"there!"
];
console.log(arr); // ["hi", "there"]
console.log(arr.length) // 2
Once you are making the arrays properly, you can get a random item with simply:
var arr = ['a','b','c'];
var index = Math.floor(Math.random() * arr.length);
console.log(arr[index]); // "a", "b" or possibly "c"
This works because var index will be calculated by a random value of between 0.0 and up to but not including 1.0 times 3 (the length of the array). Which can give you a 0, 1 or a 2.
So this arr right here, has 3 items, one at 0, one at 1, and one at 2.
Learning to address arrays from zero can be mentally tricky. You sort of get used to it. Eventually.
A working example using these tips here: http://jsfiddle.net/du5Jb/
I changed how the arrays are declared, and removed the unneeded +1 from var pickerX calculations.

The problem is that the .length attribute for arrays counts the number of elements in the array starting from zero. So for example activity has elements 1 through 5, so according to Javascript the .length is actually 6. Then your random number calculation will choose a number from 1 through 7, past the end of the array. This is where the undefined comes from.
You can fix this by starting your index numbering at 0 instead of 1, so activity would have elements 0 through 4, with a .length of 5. Also remove the +1 from your choice calculations.

When you use your "pickers", you don't want to have the +1 inside of the `Math.floor functions.
Consider this array:
var array = [ "one", "two", "three" ];
array.length; // 3
The length is 3 -- makes sense, there are 3 items inside.
But arrays are zero-based.
array[0]; // "one"
array[1]; // "two"
array[2]; // "three"
array[3]; // undefined
So when you add that + 1, you're:
a) making it impossible to pick the first thing in the array
b) making it possible to pick a number that is exactly 1 higher than the last element in the array (undefined)

The problem here as i see it is that when you generate your random variables you're doing PickerX + 1...
So the right way to do it would be PickerX without the +1.
Also Off topic you shouldn't use if commands, try using switch case...
Here's the fixed code-
var work = new Array()
work[0] = "product design";
work[1] = "product system design";
work[2] = "product social media post x5";
work[3] = "product Agent Recruitment system design";
work[4] = "product profile system design";
work[5] = "product Agent testing design";
work[6] = "product customer support";
work[7] = "product promotion";
var course = new Array();
course[0] = "javascript";
course[1] = "mandarin";
course[2] = "javascript practical-Code Academy";
course[3] = "javascript practical-learn Street";
course[4] = "mandarin practical-memrise";
course[5] = "new stuff with audiobooks";
var activity = new Array();
activity[0] = "listen to podcasts";
activity[1] = "chat online";
activity[2] = "Exercise";
activity[3] = "take a walk";
activity[4] = "call a friend";
var picker1 = Math.floor(Math.random() * 3 +1 );
var picker2 = Math.floor(Math.random() * work.length );
var picker3 = Math.floor(Math.random() * course.length );
var picker4 = Math.floor(Math.random() * activity.length );
var group_pick = function(){
switch(picker1){
case 1:
return "Time to work on ";
case 2:
return "Time to learn some ";
case 3:
return "Lets relax and ";
default:
return "error in group_pick";
}
};
var item_pick = function() {
switch(picker1){
case 1:
return work[picker2] ;
case 2:
return course [picker3] ;
case 3:
return activity[picker4] ;
default:
return "error in item_pick";
}
};
var task = group_pick() + item_pick();
document.write( task );​

Don't work so hard. Zero is your friend. Let's go golfing...
var work = [
"product design", "product system design",
"product social media post x5",
"product Agent Recruitment system design",
"product profile system design",
"product Agent testing design",
"product customer support", "product promotion",
], course = [
"javascript", "mandarin",
"javascript practical-Code Academy",
"javascript practical-learn Street",
"mandarin practical-memrise", "new stuff with audiobooks",
], activity = [
"listen to podcasts", "chat online", "Exercise",
"take a walk", "call a friend",
];
function rint(cap) {
return (Math.random() * cap) | 0;
}
function pick(item) {
switch (item) {
case 0: return "Time to work on " +
work[ rint(work.length) ];
case 1: return "Time to learn some " +
course[ rint(course.length) ];
case 2: return "Lets relax and " +
activity[ rint(activity.length) ];
default: return "error";
}
}
document.write(pick(rint(3)) + '<br>');

Related

Translate aggregation operation in MongoDB to MapReduce

I've been trying to translate this query into MapReduce for a few days. Specifically, I need to figure out how many different cars have driven "N" kilometers.
Query:
db.adsb.group({
"key": {
"KM": true
},
"initial": {
"countCar": 0
},
"reduce": function(obj, prev) {
if (obj.Matricula != null) if (obj.Matricula instanceof Array) prev.countCar += obj.Matricula.length;
else prev.countCar++;
},
"cond": {
"KM": {
"$gt": 10000,
"$lt": 45000
}
}
});
Each document in Mongo has this form:
{
"_id" : ObjectId("5a8843e7d79a740f272ccc0a"),
"KM" : 45782,
"Matricula" : "3687KTS",
}
I'm trying to get something like:
/* 0 */
{
“KM” : 45000,
“total” : 634
}
/* 1 */
{
“KM” : 46000,
“total” : 784
}
My code is below, and it compiles but does not give me the expected results.
In particular, every time I enter 'reduce' it seems to reset all the values to 0, which prevents me from accumulating the registrations.
One of my problems is that when handling large amounts of information, the function must iterate several times ' reduce'.
I also don't know if it could be done that way, or I would need to return a list of car plates and their counter together in 'reduce'; and then in finalize add it all up.
// Map function
var m = function() {
if (this.KM > 10000 && this.KM < 45000) { // So that i can get KM grouped together by thousands (10000, 20000, 30000...)
var fl = Math.round(this.KM / 1000) * 1000;
var car = this.Matricula
emit (fl, car);
//print("map KM=" + fl + " Matricula= " + car);
}
};
// Reduce function
var r = function(key, values) {
var ya_incluido = false;
var cars_totales = 0;
var lista_car = new Array();
//print( key + " ---- " + values);
for (var i=0; i < values.length;i++)
{
for (var j=0; j < lista_car.length;j++)
{
if(values[i] == lista_car[j]) { //If it is already included, don't aggregate it
ya_incluido = true;
}
} if (ya_incluido != true) { //If it is not included, add it to lista_av list.
lista_car.push(values[i]);
} ya_incluido = false;
}
cars_totales = lista_av.length; //The number of distinct cars is equal to the lenght of the list we created
return cars_totales;
};
// Finalize function
var f = function(key,value) {
// Sum up the results?
}
db.runCommand( {
mapReduce: "dealer",
map: m,
reduce: r,
finalize: f,
out: {replace : "result"}
} );
I found the answer and a really good explanation here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/27532153/13474284
I found the answer and a really good explanation here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/27532153/13474284
I couldn't find a way to return in 'reduce' the same thing that came from ' map' . And since it was run several times, it only got the results of the last iteration. The way it appears in the link, the problem is solved without any difficulty.

Page search and textbox autofill with javascript in Tampermonkey

I am trying to write a script in Grease/Tampermonkey which will search a webpage for an question, and then fill in the textbox with the correct answer.
This is what I've come up with so far:
//There are 12 options in each array
var questions = ["fourth letter", "grass", "6x4", "NFL team", "OSU Buckeys", "35 + 15", "Yellow + Blue", "LeBron James", "Lassie", "2x9", "9x10"];
var answers = ["s", "green", "nut", 24, "Bengals", "gray", 50, "green", 23, "dog", 18, 90];
var answer = 0;
var position = 0;
var found = false;
//When the window loads, the function will trigger the While loop, which will run as long as found is false.
//The While loop triggers the For loop, which runs until the If statement has found the question.
//The For loop will run a number of times equal to the number of variables in the questions array.
//The if statement searches the webpage for each consecutive variable in the questions array until it finds a match.
//When the if statement finds a match, it notes which variable in the questions array matched, and sets found to true which should trigger the end of the while loop.
window.onload = function () {
while (found) {
for (var i = 0;i<=questions.length;i++) {
if (document.body.innerHTML.toString().indexOf(questions[i])) > -1 {
position = i;
found = true;
} else {
console.log ("No answer was found");
};
};
};
};
//Once the While loop has completed, this fills the textbox on the webpage with the answer
document.getElementById("humanverify\[input\]").innerHTML = answers[position];
Tampermonkey indicates that the code is running. However, the textbox isn't filling. I am new to Javascript, and have been piecing together bits of code and knowledge over the last week.
found is false initially hence the while loop will never executed.
try this
var questions = ["fourth letter", "grass", "6x4", "NFL team", "OSU Buckeys", "35 + 15", "Yellow + Blue", "LeBron James", "Lassie", "2x9", "9x10"];
var answers = ["s", "green", "nut", 24, "Bengals", "gray", 50, "green", 23, "dog", 18, 90];
var answer = 0;
var position = 0;
var found = false;
window.onload = function () {
for (var i = 0;i<=questions.length;i++) {
if (document.body.innerHTML.toString().indexOf(questions[i]) > -1) {
position = i;
found = true;
break;
}
}
if(found){
document.getElementById("humanverify\[input\]").innerHTML = answers[position];
}
else{
console.log ("No answer was found");
}
}
I've been fiddling with it all day, and came up with a functional result that satisfies all my needs. Here is the result:
var answers = ["s", "green", "nut", 24, "bengals", "gray", 50, "green", 23, "dog", 18, 90];
var questions = ['The fourth letter in the word "Reds" is?','What color is grass?','A buckeye is a what?',"What's 6x4?",'The NFL team in Cincinnati is called the?','The OSU Buckeys are Scarlet and?','35 + 15 is?','Yellow + Blue is?','LeBron James wears #?','Lassie was a what?','2x9 is what?',"What's 9x10?"];
var question = document.getElementsByClassName('description')[0].innerText;
var found = 0;
var answer = 0;
//browses questions variable for match to question variable, then assigns the correlating index to found, and assigns the answer to the answer variable, as pulled from the answers variable
for (var find = 0; find <= questions.length; find++) {
if (question === questions[find]) {
found = find;
answer = answers[found];
}
}
//checks the assigned radio, fills the textbox with the answer, and clicks the Vote button
var submit = function (){
document.getElementsByName('polloptionid')[3].checked = true;
document.getElementById("humanverify").value = answer;
document.getElementsByName("vote")[0].click();
}
submit();
//allows for a slight delay so that the page can load before cycling through script again
var reload = function () {
location.reload();
}
setTimeout(reload, 3000);

javascript/node JSON parsing issue

Here is my example data:
http://api.setlist.fm/rest/0.1/setlist/4bf763f6.json
I'm just writing a node app that prints out the details of this page. What I'm concerned with are sets, set and song.
var sets = setlist.sets
res.write(JSON.stringify(sets)) // THIS SHOWS THE CORRECT DATA
var numSets = Object.keys(sets).length;
for(var i = 0; i < numSets; i++){
res.write("\nsets " + i);
var set = sets.set[i];
console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyNames(set))
var numSet = Object.keys(set).length;
res.write(JSON.stringify(set))
for(var j = 0; j < numSet; j++){
res.write("\nset " + (j+1) + " of " + numSet);
var song = set.song;
console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyNames(song))
numSong = Object.keys(song).length;
for(var k = 0; k < numSong; k++){
res.write("\n song " + j + "-" + k);
res.write("\n "+JSON.stringify(song[k]["#name"]));
}
}
}
what I get is:
set 1 of 1
song 0-0
"Lift Me Up"
song 0-1
"Hard to See"
song 0-2
"Never Enough"
song 0-3
"Got Your Six"
song 0-4
"Bad Company"
song 0-5
"Jekyll and Hyde"
song 0-6
"Drum Solo"
song 0-7
"Burn MF"
song 0-8
"Wrong Side of Heaven"
song 0-9
"Battle Born"
song 0-10
"Coming Down"
song 0-11
"Here to Die"
There are TWO song elements in set: (sorry no code block or it won't wrap)
{
"set": [{
"song": [{
"#name": "Lift Me Up"
}, {
"#name": "Hard to See"
}, {
"#name": "Never Enough"
}, {
"#name": "Got Your Six"
}, {
"#name": "Bad Company",
"cover": {
"#disambiguation": "British blues-rock supergroup",
"#mbid": "0053dbd9-bfbc-4e38-9f08-66a27d914c38",
"#name": "Bad Company",
"#sortName": "Bad Company",
"#tmid": "734487",
"url": "http://www.setlist.fm/setlists/bad-company-3bd6b8b0.html"
}
}, {
"#name": "Jekyll and Hyde"
}, {
"#name": "Drum Solo"
}, {
"#name": "Burn MF"
}, {
"#name": "Wrong Side of Heaven",
"info": "Acoustic"
}, {
"#name": "Battle Born",
"info": "Acoustic and Electric"
}, {
"#name": "Coming Down"
}, {
"#name": "Here to Die"
}]
}, {
"#encore": "1",
"song": [{
"#name": "Under and Over It"
}, {
"#name": "Burn It Down"
}, {
"#name": "The Bleeding"
}]
}]
}
In Swift I just make set a Dictionary and it works just fine. Javascript is not my forte. Why can't I get that second song element?
setlist.set is an array of two objects, one containing the "regular"(?) songs and the other containing the encore information.
It looks like you are mixing up loop variables with other objects/arrays and not iterating what you think you're iterating.
Here's a simplified version that should show what you're expecting:
// `sets` is an object containing (at least) `set` and `url` properties
var sets = setlist.sets;
// `set` is an array containing (in your example, two) objects
var set = sets.set;
for (var i = 0; i < set.length; ++i) {
console.log('Set %d/%d', i+1, set.length);
// `curSet` is an object containing a `song` property
var curSet = set[i];
// `songs` is an array of objects
var songs = curSet.song;
for (var j = 0; j < songs.length; ++j) {
// `song` is an object containing properties like `#name` and possibly others
var song = songs[j];
console.log(' - Song: %s', song['#name']);
}
}
The line
var numSets = Object.keys(sets).length;
Should be
var numSets = sets.set.length;
May I also suggest that you use a forEach loop rather than a for loop (a .map() would be even better). for loops are much more prone to bugs than the alternatives.

Cannot read undefined property error - building object properties in JavaScript

I am taking an online JavaScript class and am stuck on a problem involving objects. In the following code, my assignment is to output a string that retrieves the name of each ranger (e.g. lighthouseRock.ranger1.name) and match their station to the corresponding item in the superBlinders array.
If I hard-code the ranger1 property, the output format is in the right ballpark. However, if I try to be creative and build a variable (thisRanger) to dynamically insert the appropriate ranger into my object, the routine returns an error "TypeError: Cannot read property 'name' of undefined". My thisRanger variable builds OK but whenever I try to insert it into my chain after lightHouseRock it causes the undefined problem. Here is my code:
var superBlinders = [ ["Firestorm", 4000], ["Solar Death Ray", 6000], ["Supernova", 12000] ];
var lighthouseRock = {
gateClosed: true,
weaponBulbs: superBlinders,
capacity: 30,
secretPassageTo: "Underwater Outpost",
numRangers: 0
};
function addRanger(location, name, skillz, station) {
location.numRangers++;
location["ranger" + location.numRangers] = {
name: name,
skillz: skillz,
station: station
};
}
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Nick Walsh", "magnification burn", 2);
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Drew Barontini", "uppercut launch", 3);
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Christine Wong", "bomb defusing", 1);
var dontPanic = function () {
var message = "Avast, me hearties!\n";
message += "There be Pirates nearby! Stations!\n";
for (var i = 1; i <= lighthouseRock.numRangers; i++) {
var thisRangerNumber = i;
var thisRanger = "ranger" + thisRangerNumber;
// message += lighthouseRock.ranger1.name + ", man the " + superBlinders[lighthouseRock.ranger1.station][0] + "!\n";
message += lighthouseRock.thisRanger.name + ", man the " + superBlinders[lighthouseRock.thisRanger.station][0];
};
console.log(message);
}
The expected output should look something like this:
Avast, me hearties!
There be Pirates nearby! Stations!
<name>, man the <superblinder>!
<name>, man the <superblinder>!
<name>, man the <superblinder>!
How can I insert thisRanger into my code so that it gives me the expected output? Thank you very much for your help!
Working code!
It outputs all you want it todo!
UPDATE you have an error in your code I fixed that also..
Ranger2 will always be stationed on undefined since there aren't 3 stations when counting as an array, remember array in javascript starts counting from 0(zero). I changed Drew barontini to "0"
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Nick Walsh", "magnification burn", 2);
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Drew Barontini", "uppercut launch", 0);
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Christine Wong", "bomb defusing", 1);
CODE OUTPUT
Avast, me hearties!
There be Pirates nearby! Stations!
Nick Walsh, man the Supernova,12000 Drew Barontini, man the Firestorm,4000Christine Wong, man the Solar Death Ray,6000
I didn't do much to change your code. But what I did is that I change your code into
message += lighthouseRock[thisRanger].name + ", man the " + superBlinders[lighthouseRock[thisRanger].station] +"\n";
Its important to know with javascript that you can use brackets [] to get to an object property if you build the stirng dynamicly.
var superBlinders = [ ["Firestorm", 4000], ["Solar Death Ray", 6000], ["Supernova", 12000] ];
var lighthouseRock = {
gateClosed: true,
weaponBulbs: superBlinders,
capacity: 30,
secretPassageTo: "Underwater Outpost",
numRangers: 0
};
function addRanger(location, name, skillz, station) {
location.numRangers++;
location["ranger" + location.numRangers] = {
name: name,
skillz: skillz,
station: station
};
}
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Nick Walsh", "magnification burn", 2);
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Drew Barontini", "uppercut launch", 0);
addRanger(lighthouseRock, "Christine Wong", "bomb defusing", 1);
var dontPanic = function () {
var message = "Avast, me hearties!\n";
message += "There be Pirates nearby! Stations!\n";
for (var i = 1; i <= lighthouseRock.numRangers; i++) {
var thisRangerNumber = i;
var thisRanger = "ranger" + thisRangerNumber;
// message += lighthouseRock.ranger1.name + ", man the " + superBlinders[lighthouseRock.ranger1.station][0] + "!\n";
message += lighthouseRock[thisRanger].name + ", man the " + superBlinders[lighthouseRock[thisRanger].station] +"\n";
};
console.log(message);
}
dontPanic();

Small Straight (Yahtzee) Algorithm

I have created a working javascript function to check an array of 5 numbers for a small straight, in a Yahtzee game I'm making. I've tested it to no end and I'm confident it works 100% of the time, but it is also probably the worst algorithm of all time in terms of being efficient. Here is what it looks like:
function calcSmstraight() {
var sum = 0;
var r = new Array();
var r2 = new Array();
var counter = 0;
var temp;
var bool = false;
var bool2 = false;
r[0] = document.getElementById('setKeep1').value;
r[1] = document.getElementById('setKeep2').value;
r[2] = document.getElementById('setKeep3').value;
r[3] = document.getElementById('setKeep4').value;
r[4] = document.getElementById('setKeep5').value;
// Move non-duplicates to new array
r2[0] = r[0];
for(var i=0; i<r.length; i++) {
for(var j=0; j<r2.length; j++) {
if(r[i] == r2[j]) {
bool2 = true; // Already in new list
}
}
// Add to new list if not already in it
if(!bool2) {
r2.push(r[i]);
}
bool2 = false;
}
// Make sure list has at least 4 different numbers
if(r2.length >= 4) {
// Sort dice from least to greatest
while(counter < r2.length) {
if(r2[counter] > r2[counter+1]) {
temp = r2[counter];
r2[counter] = r2[counter+1];
r2[counter+1] = temp;
counter = 0;
} else {
counter++;
}
}
// Check if the dice are in order
if(((r2[0] == (r2[1]-1)) && (r2[1] == (r2[2]-1)) && (r2[2] == (r2[3]-1)))
|| ((r2[1] == (r2[2]-1)) && (r2[2] == (r2[3]-1)) && (r2[3] == (r2[4]-1)))) {
bool = true;
}
}
if(bool) {
// If small straight give 30 points
sum = 30;
}
return sum;
}
My strategy is to:
1) Remove duplicates by adding numbers to a new array as they occur
2) Make sure the new array is at least 4 in length (4 different numbers)
3) Sort the array from least to greatest
4) Check if the first 4 OR last 4 (if 5 in length) numbers are in order
My question:
Does anyone know a way that I can improve this method? It seems ridiculously terrible to me but I can't think of a better way to do this and it at least works.
Given that you're implementing a Yahtzee game you presumably need to test for other patterns beyond just small straights, so it would be better to create the array of values before calling the function so that you can use them in all tests, rather than getting the values from the DOM elements inside the small straight test.
Anyway, here's the first way that came to my mind to test for a small straight within an array representing the values of five six-sided dice:
// assume r is an array with the values from the dice
r.sort();
if (/1234|2345|3456/.test(r.join("").replace(/(.)\1/,"$1") {
// is a small straight
}
Note that you can sort an array of numbers using this code:
r2.sort(function(a,b){return a-b;});
...but in your case the values in the array are strings because they came from the .value attribute of DOM elements, so a default string sort will work with r2.sort(). Either way you don't need your own sort routine, because JavaScript provides one.
EDIT: If you assume that you can just put the five values as a string as above you can implement tests for all possible combinations as a big if/else like this:
r.sort();
r = r.join("");
if (/(.)\1{4}/.test(r)) {
alert("Five of a Kind");
} else if (/(.)\1{3}/.test(r)) {
alert("Four of a Kind");
} else if (/(.)\1{2}(.)\2|(.)\3(.)\4{2}/.test(r)) {
alert("Full House");
} else if (/(.)\1{2}/.test(r)) {
alert("Three of a Kind");
} else if (/1234|2345|3456/.test( r.replace(/(.)\1/,"$1") ) {
alert("Small Straight");
} // etc.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/4Qzfw/
Why don't you just have a six-element array of booleans indicating whether a number is present, then check 1-4, 2-5, and 3-6 for being all true? In pseudocode:
numFlags = array(6);
foreach(dice)
numFlags[die.value-1] = true;
if(numFlags[0] && numFlags[1] && numFlags[2] && numFlags[3]) return true
//Repeat for 1-4 and 2-5
return false
This wouldn't be a useful algorithm if you were using million-sided dice, but for six-siders there are only three possible small straights to check for, so it's simple and straightforward.
I do not play Yahtzee, but I do play cards, and it would appear the algorithm might be similar. This routine, written in ActionScript (my JavaScript is a bit rusty) has been compiled but not tested. It should accept 5 cards for input, and return a message for either straights greater than 3 cards or pairs or higher.
private function checkCards(card1:int,card2:int,card3:int,card4:int,card5:int):String
{
// Assumes that the 5 cards have a value between 0-12 (Ace-King)
//The key to the routine is using the card values as pointers into an array of possible card values.
var aryCardValues:Array = new Array(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);
aryCardValues[card1] += 1;
aryCardValues[card1] += 1;
aryCardValues[card1] += 1;
aryCardValues[card1] += 1;
aryCardValues[card1] += 1;
var aryCardNames:Array = new Array("Ace", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "Jack", "Queen", "King");
var strOutMessage:String;
var intCardCount:int = 0;
var strSeperator:String;
var strHighCard:String;
for (var i:int = 0;i < aryCardValues.length;i++)
{
//Check for runs of three of a kind or greater.
if (aryCardValues[i] >= 2)
{
strOutMessage = strOutMessage + strSeperator + i + "-" + aryCardNames[i] + "s";
strSeperator = " & ";
}
//Check for values in a straight.
if (aryCardValues[i] > 0)
{
intCardCount++;
if (intCardCount > 3)strHighCard = aryCardNames[i];
}
else
{
if (intCardCount < 3)intCardCount = 0;
}
}
if (intCardCount > 3) strOutMessage = intCardCount + " run " + strHighCard + " High."
return strOutMessage;
}
It may not be as concise as the regular expressions used above, but it might be more readable and easily modified. One change that could be made is to pass in an array of cards rather than discrete variables for each card.

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