Private Function CollectWords() As Dictionary(Of String, Integer)
      ' create a new dictionary
      Dim table As New Dictionary(Of String, Integer)

      Console.WriteLine("Enter a string: ") ' prompt for user input
      Dim input As String = Console.ReadLine() ' get input

      ' split input text into tokens (words)
        Dim words As String() = input.Split()



      ' processing input words
      For Each word In words
            Dim wordKey As String = word.ToLower() ' get word in lowercase
            Dim letters As Char() = word.ToCharArray()

         ' if the dictionary contains the word
            If table.ContainsKey(wordKey) Then
                table(wordKey) = table(wordKey) + 1
            Else
                ' add new word with a count of 1 to dictionary
                table.Add(wordKey, 1)
            End If

            For Each letter In letters
                If table.ContainsKey(letter) Then
                    table(letter) = table(letter) + 1
                Else
                    table.Add(letter, 1)
                End If
            Next

        Next

        Return table

    End Function ' CollectWords