Note: This question poses a problem that I have already solved, however I feel my solution is very rudimentary and that other people, like myself, would benefit from a discussion with input from more experienced developers. Different approaches to solving the problem, as well as more sophisticated methods and algorithms would be really appreciated. I feel this is a good place to learn how Ruby can tackle what I consider to be a fairly difficult problem for a beginner.
Given a 6x6 2D Array arr:
1 1 1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
We define an hourglass in arr to be a subset of values with indices falling in this pattern in arr's graphical representation:
a b c
d
e f g
There are 16 hourglasses in arr and an hourglass sum is the sum of an hourglass' values. Calculate the hourglass sum for every hourglass in arr, then print the maximum hourglass sum.
For example, given the 2D array:
arr = [
[-9, -9, -9, 1, 1, 1],
[ 0, -9, 0, 4, 3, 2],
[-9, -9, -9, 1, 2, 3],
[ 0, 0, 8, 6, 6, 0],
[ 0, 0, 0, -2, 0, 0],
[ 0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 0]
]
We calculate the following hourglass values:
-63, -34, -9, 12,
-10, 0, 28, 23,
-27, -11, -2, 10,
9, 17, 25, 18
Our highest hourglass value is from the hourglass:
0 4 3
1
8 6 6
My solution is:
def hourglass_sum(arr)
hourglasses = []
arr.each_with_index do |row, i|
# rescue clause to prevent iterating outside the array
unless arr[i].nil?
arr[i].length.times do |iteration|
# generate n 3x3 arrays
r1 = arr[i][iteration...iteration+3]
r2 = arr[i+1][iteration...iteration+3] if arr[i+1] != nil
r3 = arr[i+2][iteration...iteration+3] if arr[i+2] != nil
# rescue clause to stop creating 3x3 arrays that fall outside given input array
if arr[i+1] != nil && arr[i+2] != nil
# take all values except indices 0 and 5 from the 9 element array
result = r1 + [r2[1]] + r3
hourglasses << result.sum unless result.include? nil
end
end
end
end
p hourglasses.max
end
arr = [[-9, -9, -9, 1, 1, 1], [0, -9, 0, 4, 3, 2], [-9, -9, -9, 1, 2, 3], [0, 0, 8, 6, 6, 0], [0, 0 ,0, -2, 0, 0], [0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 0]]
hourglass_sum(arr)
# => 28