How to improve your reasoning skills/your program? [Roman Converter]

1

Hi everyone,

I just completed it the “Roman Converter”, I didn’t look at the hints and felt kind of dirty while writing my program, you can easily understand why:

function convertToRoman(num) {
  if (num < 10) {
    return unitConverter(num);
  } else {
    num = num.toString();
    var thousands = Number(num[num.length-4]);
    var hundreds = Number(num[num.length-3]);
    var tens = Number(num[num.length-2]);
    var unit = Number(num[num.length-1]);
   if (num <100) {
    return tensConverter(tens)+unitConverter(unit);
  } else if (num < 1000){
    return hundredsConverter(hundreds)+tensConverter(tens)+unitConverter(unit);
  } else if (num < 10000) {
    return thousandsConverter(thousands)+hundredsConverter(hundreds)+tensConverter(tens)+unitConverter(unit);
  } else {
    return "You broke the converter!"
  }
}
}

var unitConverter = function(num){
  var string = "";
  if (num<4) {
    for (i=1; i<=num; i++){
      string += "I";
    }
  } else if (num === 4) {
    string = "IV";
  } else if (num < 9) {
    string = "V";
    for (i=5; i<num; i++){
      string += "I";
    }
  } else {
    string = "IX";
  }

  return string;
};
var tensConverter = function(num){
  var string = "";
  if (num<4) {
    for (i=1; i<=num; i++){
      string += "X";
    }
  } else if (num === 4) {
    string = "XL";
  } else if (num < 9) {
    string = "L";
    for (i=5; i<num; i++){
      string += "X";
    }
  } else {
    string = "XC";
  }

  return string;
};

var hundredsConverter = function(num){
  var string = "";
  if (num<4) {
    for (i=1; i<=num; i++){
      string += "C";
    }
  } else if (num === 4) {
    string = "CD";
  } else if (num < 9) {
    string = "D";
    for (i=5; i<num; i++){
      string += "C";
    }
  } else {
    string = "CM";
  }

  return string;
};

var thousandsConverter = function(num){
  var string = "";
    for (i=1; i<=num; i++){
      string += "M";
    }
  return string;
};

I compared my code to the solution: freeCodeCamp Algorithm Challenge Guide: Roman Numeral Converter

While I understand the solution I was far from thinking about using an array, and the code looks much more elegant. What do you suggest me to do? I started web development <5 months ago and JavaScript even more recently. If you relate to my situation and got out of it, how did you do it?

Thank you a lot :pray:

2

Completely normal.

You built a working converter. And you understood the “better” solution. You’re learning. Pat yourself on the back and move on to the next challenge.

3

It’s good to read other code when you’re done to see how to improve, but don’t let that frustrate you because your code wasn’t as efficient or well-factored your first try. It’s not fair to yourself.

Congratulations on completing the algorithm without looking at the hints. That one took me awhile.