So the objective here is to find the encoded Morse from the randomly generated image, then decode it to numbers and letters – which is going to be our answer.

There are three steps to this problem.
1) Get positions for white pixels
2) Convert information from step 1 to ASCII code
3) Decode the Morse

Step 1: Get positions for white pixels

Before we start the first step there are some things we want to keep in mind. Firstly row 1 goes from 0 – 99, row 2 goes from 100 – 199, row 3 goes from 200 – 299 and so on. Secondly go and download five (or how many you want) randomly generated pictures from challenge 2. Open it up with some image editor and take a look at the width and the height. What do you notice for all of the images?

spoiler:

Now after we have gone over that let us dive into the first step of the solution. First of all there is a very class in VB 2008 called ArrayList. It could be a great tool because with the ArrayList class, “you can add new items to a list, insert items inside a list, arrange items of a list, check the existence of an item in a list, remove an item from the list, inquire about the list, or destroy the list.” “The main problem of traditional arrays is that their size is fixed by the number you specify when declaring the array variable: you cannot add items beyond the specified dimension. Another limitation is that you cannot insert an item inside the list.” (http://www.functionx.com/vbnet/collections/arraylist.htm)

Now what we would need to do is find a way to go through the randomly generated image from left to right starting from the uppermost left corner.

spoiler:


Now that we know how to go from left to right we can do that and also have a conditional statement that checks to see if any of the pixels are white. Once it is white you would want to take its X-position remember that.

One of the other REALLY IMPORTANT things to remember is that ONLY the first white dot’s position stays the same for other once you would have to subtract. For example if the very first dot has a position of 15 then you would leave it as 15 and that would be the ONLY one. And for instance if the second white dot has a position of 99 then you would say 99 – 15.
Now also remember that second row does not go from 0 – 99 it goes from 100 – 199 and third one goes from 200 -299 and so on.

spoiler:


Now once you loop through the image and get position for the white dots you would need to save them somewhere as you go along.

Here is where the ArrayList comes in handy :)

Step 2: Convert information from step 1 to ASCII code

I think this is one of the shortest steps since it is only a loop. In this step we only need to get the numbers representing positions, perform subtraction to get the ASCII codes and then convert them into ASCII characters.

Now think about it… if you have the position in some kind of array then you know that the order is correct meaning the first element of the array represents the first white dot’s x-position, second one represents the second white dot’s position and so on.

spoiler:


I would also suggest that you make a string called encoded_answer (name does not matter) and as you are finding each ASCII character you concatenate the found one to the encoded _answer. For concatenation you could use String.concat(string1, string2) or simply a + sign.

Step 3: Decode the Morse

In my opinion the third step is one of the most annoying once since it has a lot of writing and no logic. Since the encoded_answer above has the encoded Morse code we take a look at it and see that each Morse code is separated by an empty space that gives us an advantage to use the Split (delimiter) command.

spoiler:


The only thing we need to know is how to convert the Morse into digits and number. For that we use Google to fine the translation table and personally I liked this site http://ling.ucsc.edu/~hank/morseabc.html. Now that we have the codes and all what we need to do is loop and compare, loop and compare, loop and compare and so on and so on.

TIP: I usually prefer to put the code in the Form_Load in order to win some time over also at the end when I get the answer I use Clipboard.SetText(my answer) to copy the answer to the clipboard. So that only leaves me with opening up the program then quickly pressing Control+V and submitting the answer.

That would be all and if you have any questions or suggestions please leave comments below. Happy hacking everybody!