This notebook was prepared by Donne Martin. Source and license info is on GitHub.

Challenge Notebook¶

Problem: Implement an algorithm to have a robot move from the upper left corner to the bottom right corner of a grid.¶

Constraints¶

Are there restrictions to how the robot moves?
- The robot can only move right and down
Are some cells off limits?
- Yes
Is this a rectangular grid? i.e. the grid is not jagged?
- Yes
Will there always be a valid way for the robot to get to the bottom right?
- No, return None
Can we assume the inputs are valid?
- No
Can we assume this fits memory?
- Yes

Test Cases¶

o = valid cell
x = invalid cell

   0  1  2  3
0  o  o  o  o
1  o  x  o  o
2  o  o  x  o
3  x  o  o  o
4  o  o  x  o
5  o  o  o  x
6  o  x  o  x
7  o  x  o  o

General case

expected = [(0, 0), (1, 0), (2, 0),
            (2, 1), (3, 1), (4, 1),
            (5, 1), (5, 2), (6, 2), 
            (7, 2), (7, 3)]

No valid path: In above example, row 7 col 2 is also invalid -> None
None input -> None
Empty matrix -> None

Algorithm¶

Refer to the Solution Notebook. If you are stuck and need a hint, the solution notebook's algorithm discussion might be a good place to start.

Code¶

In [ ]:

class Grid(object):

    def find_path(self, matrix):
        # TODO: Implement me
        pass

Unit Test¶

The following unit test is expected to fail until you solve the challenge.

In [ ]:

# %load test_grid_path.py
import unittest


class TestGridPath(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_grid_path(self):
        grid = Grid()
        self.assertEqual(grid.find_path(None), None)
        self.assertEqual(grid.find_path([[]]), None)
        max_rows = 8
        max_cols = 4
        matrix = [[1] * max_cols for _ in range(max_rows)]
        matrix[1][1] = 0
        matrix[2][2] = 0
        matrix[3][0] = 0
        matrix[4][2] = 0
        matrix[5][3] = 0
        matrix[6][1] = 0
        matrix[6][3] = 0
        matrix[7][1] = 0
        result = grid.find_path(matrix)
        expected = [(0, 0), (1, 0), (2, 0),
                    (2, 1), (3, 1), (4, 1),
                    (5, 1), (5, 2), (6, 2), 
                    (7, 2), (7, 3)]
        self.assertEqual(result, expected)
        matrix[7][2] = 0
        result = grid.find_path(matrix)
        self.assertEqual(result, None)
        print('Success: test_grid_path')


def main():
    test = TestGridPath()
    test.test_grid_path()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Solution Notebook¶

Review the Solution Notebook for a discussion on algorithms and code solutions.