Assignment 4, Rama

For this assignment, I experimented with the concept of word clouds using p5.js, where the size and style of each word vary randomly. The word cloud relies on the frequency of words in the input text data. When the mouse is pressed on the screen, the word cloud is restarted, providing an interactive experience for the user.

Initially, I learned how to create the world cloud using a couple of YouTube videos, however, they did not go through the link between word frequency and size of the words in the sketch. So, I found this code (https://editor.p5js.org/dano/sketches/1_RLNdYnT) which uses a different method of text input and method of display than my initial sketch, however what’s cool is the word size is determined through word frequency. Here’s the code:
split(text) {
return text.split(/\W+/);
}

validate(token) {
return /\w{2,}/.test(token);
}

process(tokens) {

for (var i = 0; i < tokens.length; i++) {

if (! tokens[i]) continue;
var token = tokens[i].toLowerCase();
if (this.validate(token)) {
this.increment(token);
}
}
}

getKeys() {
return this.keys;
}getCount(word) {
return this.dict[word];
}

increment(word) {
if (!this.dict[word]) {
this.dict[word] = 1;
this.keys.push(word);
} else {
this.dict[word]++;
}

The code technically breaks down the words in the text and keeps count of their frequency. Then it validates these words (true/false), keeps track of their count/frequency in the passage or text. It’s like a simple tool for counting and analyzing the words in a piece of text.

One potential improvement I considered is the ability to load external text data so the user could make the word cloud generator more versatile and useful in different contexts.