Function overloading is the ability to create multiple functions with identical names but different implementations. Not all languages support function overloading. Python does not, for example.
In C++ programming, two or more functions can have same name when they can be distinguished by the parameters. Hence, C++ allows function overloading when either the data types of the parameters differ or the number of parameters differ.
Overloading is a nice feature of the C++ language. Python does not offer function overloading, so accomplishing the same task in Python requires a different technique.
Here’s a self check that really covers everything so far. You may have heard of the infinite monkey theorem? The theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. Well, suppose we replace a monkey with a C++ function. How long do you think it would take for a C++ function to generate just one sentence of Shakespeare? The sentence we’ll shoot for is: “methinks it is like a weasel”
You’re not going to want to run this one in the browser, so fire up your favorite C++ IDE. The way we’ll simulate this is to write a function that generates a string that is 28 characters long by choosing random letters from the 26 letters in the alphabet plus the space. We’ll write another function that will score each generated string by comparing the randomly generated string to the goal. Hint: You will need to import the <random> library for this.
A third function will repeatedly call generate and score, then if 100% of the letters are correct we are done. If the letters are not correct then we will generate a whole new string. To make it easier to follow your program’s progress this third function should print out the best string generated so far and its score every 1000 tries.
See if you can improve upon the program in the self check by keeping letters that are correct and only modifying one character in the best string so far. This is a type of algorithm in the class of ‘hill climbing’ algorithms, that is we only keep the result if it is better than the previous one.
