square puzzle solution

Question

Question: given an integer number n, print the numbers from 1 up to n² like this:

n = 4

result is:

01 02 03 04
12 13 14 05
11 16 1         


        

Answer 1

Another way to do it, this time in C#:

int number = 9;
var position = new { x = -1, y = 0 };
var directions = new [] { 
    new { x = 1, y = 0 },
    new { x = 0, y = 1 },
    new { x = -1, y = 0 },
    new { x = 0, y = -1 }
};

var sequence = (
    from n in Enumerable.Range(1, number)
    from o in Enumerable.Repeat(n, n != number ? 2 : 1)
    select o
).Reverse().ToList();

var result = new int[number,number];

for (int i = 0, current = 1; i < sequence.Count; i++)
{
    var direction = directions[i % directions.Length];      

    for (int j = 0; j < sequence[i]; j++, current++)
    {
        position = new {
            x = position.x + direction.x,
            y = position.y + direction.y
        };

        result[position.y, position.x] = current;
    }
}