Bomb dropping algorithm

Question

I have an n x m matrix consisting of non-negative integers. For example:

2 3 4 7 1
1 5 2 6 2
4 3 4 2 1
2 1 2 4 1
3 1 3 4 1
2 1 4 3 2
6 9 1 6 4
         


        

Answer 1

This does a breadth-search for the shortest path (a series of bombings) through this "maze" of positions. No, I cannot prove that there is no faster algorithm, sorry.

#!/usr/bin/env python

M = ((1,2,3,4),
     (2,3,4,5),
     (5,2,7,4),
     (2,3,5,8))

def eachPossibleMove(m):
  for y in range(1, len(m)-1):
    for x in range(1, len(m[0])-1):
      if (0 == m[y-1][x-1] == m[y-1][x] == m[y-1][x+1] ==
               m[y][x-1]   == m[y][x]   == m[y][x+1] ==
               m[y+1][x-1] == m[y+1][x] == m[y+1][x+1]):
        continue
      yield x, y

def bomb(m, (mx, my)):
  return tuple(tuple(max(0, m[y][x]-1)
      if mx-1 <= x <= mx+1 and my-1 <= y <= my+1
      else m[y][x]
      for x in range(len(m[y])))
    for y in range(len(m)))

def findFirstSolution(m, path=[]):
#  print path
#  print m
  if sum(map(sum, m)) == 0:  # empty?
    return path
  for move in eachPossibleMove(m):
    return findFirstSolution(bomb(m, move), path + [ move ])

def findShortestSolution(m):
  black = {}
  nextWhite = { m: [] }
  while nextWhite:
    white = nextWhite
    nextWhite = {}
    for position, path in white.iteritems():
      for move in eachPossibleMove(position):
        nextPosition = bomb(position, move)
        nextPath = path + [ move ]
        if sum(map(sum, nextPosition)) == 0:  # empty?
          return nextPath
        if nextPosition in black or nextPosition in white:
          continue  # ignore, found that one before
        nextWhite[nextPosition] = nextPath

def main(argv):
  if argv[1] == 'first':
    print findFirstSolution(M)
  elif argv[1] == 'shortest':
    print findShortestSolution(M)
  else:
    raise NotImplementedError(argv[1])

if __name__ == '__main__':
  import sys
  sys.exit(main(sys.argv))