AI-Unbeaten algorithm exercise : can MBappe join Real Madrid?

Article originally published here : https://saaslit.com/blog/ai-unbeaten-algorithm-exercise-can-mbappe-join-real-madrid

A problem that ChatGPT can't solve

You can't rely on ChatGPT for this one, since it's not able to deal with such a dilemma ;)

Apart from the joke, the exercise probably cannot be solved by AI (I didn't try anyway), since I invented the problem, and most AI can only solve well-known problems.

The problem : buying a player in soccer

You can solve this exercise in the language you prefer, no matter if it's JS, Java, Python, Ruby or PHP - or any other fancy language your like 😊

I give you input/output as json format, feel free to change the format if you don't like it.

• Let's say that MBappé value is 200. Its position on the field is "striker".

• A value represents both the strength of the player, and an amount of money (any unit)

• Let's say that RealMadrid can buy a player, only if it's able to sell players first.

• Let's say that it is not possible for a team to sell all players of a given position (so you can't sell all strikers at once).

It means that you need at least one player in each position before to transfer a player

• RealMadrid (as any other team) will try to sell the fewest possible player.

• Despite the rule above, the team will try to keep the strongest possible team, think about it when you are selling players!

Input and output

// input is as follow, your initial team is like this
[
 {name: "Courtois", position: "goalkeeper", value: 35},
 {name: "Lunin", position: "goalkeeper", value: 8},
 {name: "Mendy", position: "defender", value: 30},
 {name: "Alaba", position: "defender", value: 20},
 {name: "Tchouameni", position: "midfielder", value: 90},
 {name: "Valverde", position: "midfielder", value: 95},
 {name: "Camavinga", position: "midfielder", value: 85},
 {name: "Vinicius", position: "striker", value: 150},
 {name: "Rodrygo", position: "striker", value: 100},
]

// The player that you are trying to buy is as follow :
{name: "MBappe", position: "striker", value: 200}

// after function call, output should be like this
// of course the initial team should now have a new player : MBappe
// and should have lost 2 players : Vinicius and Camavinga
{
 player_was_transferred: true,
 sold_players: [
   {name: "Vinicius", position: "striker", value: 150}, 
   {name: "Camavinga", position: "midfielder", value: 85}
 ]
}

Now it's up to you

Write a function that can work with any other player, any other team.

Think about all corner cases, even the case where the team can't afford the player - it happens too often in real life!

Best of luck!