dictionary = 'dict.txt'

def set_dictionary(filename='dict.txt'):
    """
    Load the specified file as the dictionary, overwriting 
    any previous dictionaries.
    """
    dictionary = filename


def spellcheck_text(document_list, index=0):
    """
    Takes a list of words with whitespace removed, and an integer index 
    positive to count from left of list, negative to count from right).
    Starting at word <index>, return the index of the first word in the
    list not in the dictionary, or -1 if no such words are found.
    """
    dictionary_file = open(dictionary)
    dictionary_list = dictionary_file.read().split()

    count = index
    for word in document_list[index:]:
        if dictionary_list.count(word) == 0:
            return count
        else:
            count = count + 1
    return -1

###############################
##      Main for testing     ##
###############################

def remove_punc(word):
  if word.isalpha(): 
    return word
  else:
    stripped_word = ''
    for char in word:
      if char.isalpha() or char == "'":
        stripped_word = stripped_word + char
    return stripped_word

def test(filename='input.txt', index=0):
  input_file = open(filename)
  input_string = input_file.read()
  stripped_words = map(remove_punc, input_string.split())
  testhelp(stripped_words, 0)

def testhelp(stripped_words, index):
  nextmisspell = spellcheck_text(stripped_words, index)
  print stripped_words[nextmisspell]

  testhelp(stripped_words, nextmisspell+1)

###############################
## Non-implemented functions ##
###############################

def add_dictionary(filename):
    """
    Add the words in the specified file to the dictionary.
    """


def add_to_dictionary(word):
    """
    Add the argument to the dictionary.
    """


def delete_from_dictionary(word):
    """
    Remove the argument from the dictionary.
    """


def ignore_word(word):
    """
    Do not find this word as misspelled until the spellchecker exits or is
    reloaded, even though it is not in the dictionary.
    """


def find_alternate_words(word):
    """
    Return a list of the closest matches if the word is not in the dictionary,
    or an empty list if it is.
    """