Python solution to Google Codejam: http://code.google.com/codejam/contest/351101/dashboard#s=p2

t9spelling.py

import unittest
import sys

code_map = {
'a' : '2',
'b' : '22',
'c' : '222',
'd' : '3',
'e' : '33',
'f' : '333',
'g' : '4',
'h' : '44',
'i' : '444',
'j' : '5',
'k' : '55',
'l' : '555',
'm' : '6',
'n' : '66',
'o' : '666',
'p' : '7',
'q' : '77',
'r' : '777',
's' : '7777',
't' : '8',
'u' : '88',
'v' : '888',
'w' : '9',
'x' : '99',
'y' : '999',
'z' : '9999',
' ' : '0'
}

def output(row):
    output = []
    prev_char = ''
    for char in row:
        if prev_char and code_map[char][0] == code_map[prev_char][0]:
            output.append(' ')
        output.append(code_map[char])
        prev_char = char
    return ''.join(output) 

def main():
    file_name = sys.argv[1]
    input = open(file_name)
    cnt = 0
    for line in input:
        cnt += 1
        if cnt > 1:
            print 'Case #%s: %s' %(cnt - 1, output(line.strip('\n')))

class Test(unittest.TestCase):
    def test_normal(self):
        self.assertEqual(output('hi'), '44 444')
        self.assertEqual(output(' '), '0')
        self.assertEqual(output('yes'), '999337777')
        self.assertEqual(output('foo  bar'), '333666 6660 022 2777')
        self.assertEqual(output('hello world'), '4433555 555666096667775553')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()