From: Justin Collins <collinsj@...>
Date: 2006-08-14T03:52:22+09:00
Subject: [Solution] re: [QUIZ] Pen and Paper (#90)

Here's my solution, which works the same way as Elliot's first solution, 
although with very different code:
It picks a random starting position, then finds all available moves from 
there, sorts them randomly, then picks the one with the fewest moves 
available.
Without the random sort, you'll always move in a similar pattern. It 
seems to work a little bit better with the random sort.

I also ended up spending some time on getting nice looking output. :)
And it could certainly be made more efficient.

class Board
    def initialize(size)
        @board = Array.new(size) { Array.new(size) { '.' } }
        @size = size
        @current = 1
    end

    #Checks if the spot at (x, y) is available
    def available?(x, y)
        if x >= 0 and x < @size and y >= 0 and y <= @size
            @board[x][y] == '.'
        else
            false
        end
    end

    #Returns a list of pairs which can be reached from (x, y)
    def available_from(x, y)
        available = [[x, y - 3], [x + 2, y - 2], [x + 3, y], [x + 2, y + 
2], [x, y + 3], [x - 2, y + 2], [x - 3, y],[x - 2, y - 2]].map { |pair| 
available?(*pair) ? pair : nil }.compact
    end

    #Checks if the board is completed
    def full?
        @size**2 < @current
    end
   
    #Marks the spot at (x,y)
    def mark(x, y)
        if available?(x, y)
            @board[x][y] = @current
            @current += 1
        else
            raise "#{x},#{y} is not available"
        end
    end

    #Nice box output
    def to_s
        lines = "-" + "-"*5*@size + "\n"
        out = ""
        out << lines
        @board.each do |row|
            out << "|" << row.map { |num| num.to_s.rjust(4) }.join(' ') 
<< "|\n"
        end
        out << lines
    end
end

raise "Please supply size" if ARGV[0].nil?

size = ARGV[0].to_i
raise "Size must be greater than 4" if size < 5

success = false

until success
    board = Board.new(size)
   
    #Pick random starting point
    x = rand(size)
    y = rand(size)
   
    #Mark the board there
    board.mark(x,y)
    success = true
   
    #Fill the board
    until board.full?
        avail = board.available_from(x, y).sort { rand }
       
        #No moves available
        if avail.empty?
            puts "Cannot proceed"
            success = false
            break
        end

        #Pick the best available move
        best = avail.inject { |best, pair|
            board.available_from(*pair).length < 
board.available_from(*best).length ? pair : best
        }

        #Mark the board
        x, y = best
        board.mark(x, y)
    end
end

#Output the solution
puts board


-Justin