A computer search shows that "beefily" and "billowy" are the two longest words with letters in alphabetical order. If one doesn't like double letters (for strict monotonically increasing letter value), one letter shorter are "almost", "begins", "biopsy", "chimps", "chinos", "chintz" and "ghostly".

For reverse alphabetical order the longest is "trollied". One letter less avoids a double letter in "sponged" and "wronged".

The last "word" that the computer finds "in alphabetical order" is just "x". As there might be considered problems with that, the next-last is "tux", and after that (actually, before, in the alphabet), is "sty".

For reverse alphabetical order of its letters, the first word found is "a", whose letters are both in reverse alphabetic order as well as alphabetic order. The same quibble can be made about the second word found, "aa" (a type of lava). Then comes "ba", not too common a word. Then comes "ebb". The only problem for the purist here is the double letter. Then come "ed" (as in "sex ed" or "driver's ed") and "fa" (a note on the diatonic scale--or a long, long way to run in the Sound of Music). But a word that all can agree is common enough is "fed".

The program is:

wdLim = 25
REDIM save$(wdLim)
OPEN "words.txt" FOR INPUT AS #1
DO
 LINE INPUT #1, l$
 IF LCASE$(l$) = l$ THEN
   good = 1
   FOR i = 2 TO LEN(l$)
     IF MID$(l$, i, 1) < MID$(l$, i - 1, 1) THEN good = 0: EXIT FOR
   NEXT
   IF good THEN
      IF LEN(l$) > 5 THEN
        PRINT l$
      END IF
      IF LEN(l$) > LEN(save$(wdLim)) THEN
        FOR i = 1 TO wdLim
          IF LEN(l$) > LEN(save$(i)) THEN
             FOR j = i TO wdLim
               SWAP save$(j), l$
             NEXT
             EXIT FOR
          END IF
        NEXT
      END IF
   END IF
 END IF
LOOP UNTIL EOF(1)
'FOR i = 1 TO 25
' PRINT save$(i)
'NEXT
CLOSE


wdLim = 25
REDIM save$(wdLim)
OPEN "words.txt" FOR INPUT AS #1
DO
 LINE INPUT #1, l$
 IF LCASE$(l$) = l$ THEN
   good = 1
   FOR i = 2 TO LEN(l$)
     IF MID$(l$, i, 1) > MID$(l$, i - 1, 1) THEN good = 0: EXIT FOR
   NEXT
   IF good THEN
      IF LEN(l$) > 6 THEN PRINT l$
      IF LEN(l$) > LEN(save$(wdLim)) THEN
        FOR i = 1 TO wdLim
          IF LEN(l$) > LEN(save$(i)) THEN
             FOR j = i TO wdLim
               SWAP save$(j), l$
             NEXT
             EXIT FOR
          END IF
        NEXT
      END IF
   END IF
 END IF
LOOP UNTIL EOF(1)
'FOR i = 1 TO 25
' PRINT save$(i)
'NEXT
CLOSE

wdLim = 25
REDIM save$(wdLim)
OPEN "words.txt" FOR INPUT AS #1
DO
 LINE INPUT #1, l$
 IF LCASE$(l$) = l$ THEN
   good = 1
   FOR i = 2 TO LEN(l$)
     IF MID$(l$, i, 1) < MID$(l$, i - 1, 1) THEN good = 0: EXIT FOR
   NEXT
   IF good THEN
             FOR j = 1 TO wdLim
               SWAP save$(j), l$
             NEXT
   END IF
 END IF
LOOP UNTIL EOF(1)
FOR i = 1 TO wdLim
  PRINT save$(i)
NEXT
CLOSE


wdLim = 25
REDIM save$(wdLim)
OPEN \"words.txt\" FOR INPUT AS #1
wCt = 0
DO
 LINE INPUT #1, l$
 IF LCASE$(l$) = l$ THEN
   good = 1
   FOR i = 2 TO LEN(l$)
     IF MID$(l$, i, 1) > MID$(l$, i - 1, 1) THEN good = 0: EXIT FOR
   NEXT
   IF good THEN
    wCt = wCt + 1
    IF wCt <= wdLim THEN
     save$(wCt) = l$
    END IF
   END IF
 END IF
LOOP UNTIL EOF(1)
FOR i = 1 TO wdLim
  PRINT save$(i)
NEXT
CLOSE

Posted by Charlie on 2004-02-08 11:09:34