Looping in a spiral

Question

A friend was in need of an algorithm that would let him loop through the elements of an NxM matrix (N and M are odd). I came up with a solution, but I wanted to see if my fe

Answer 1

Haskell, take your pick:

spiral x y = (0, 0) : concatMap ring [1 .. max x' y'] where
    ring n | n > x' = left x' n  ++ right x' (-n)
    ring n | n > y' = up   n  y' ++ down (-n) y'
    ring n          = up n n ++ left n n ++ down n n ++ right n n
    up    x y = [(x, n) | n <- [1-y .. y]]; down = (.) reverse . up
    right x y = [(n, y) | n <- [1-x .. x]]; left = (.) reverse . right
    (x', y') = (x `div` 2, y `div` 2)

spiral x y = filter (\(x',y') -> 2*abs x' <= x && 2*abs y' <= y) .
             scanl (\(a,b) (c,d) -> (a+c,b+d)) (0,0) $
             concat [ (:) (1,0) . tail 
                    $ concatMap (replicate n) [(0,1),(-1,0),(0,-1),(1,0)]
                    | n <- [2,4..max x y] ]

Answer 2

//PHP implementation

function spiral($n) {

    $r = intval((sqrt($n + 1) - 1) / 2) + 1;

    // compute radius : inverse arithmetic sum of 8+16+24+...=
    $p = (8 * $r * ($r - 1)) / 2;
    // compute total point on radius -1 : arithmetic sum of 8+16+24+...

    $en = $r * 2;
    // points by face

    $a = (1 + $n - $p) % ($r * 8);
    // compute de position and shift it so the first is (-r,-r) but (-r+1,-r)
    // so square can connect

    $pos = array(0, 0, $r);
    switch (intval($a / ($r * 2))) {
        // find the face : 0 top, 1 right, 2, bottom, 3 left
        case 0:
            $pos[0] = $a - $r;
            $pos[1] = -$r;
            break;
        case 1:
            $pos[0] = $r;
            $pos[1] = ($a % $en) - $r;
            break;
        case 2:
            $pos[0] = $r - ($a % $en);
            $pos[1] = $r;
            break;
        case 3:
            $pos[0] = -$r;
            $pos[1] = $r - ($a % $en);
            break;
    }
    return $pos;
}

for ($i = 0; $i < 168; $i++) {

    echo '<pre>';
    print_r(spiral($i));
    echo '</pre>';
}

Answer 3

Java spiral "Code golf" attempt, based on the C++ variant.

public static void Spiral(int X, int Y) {
    int x=0, y=0, dx = 0, dy = -1;
    int t = Math.max(X,Y);
    int maxI = t*t;

    for (int i=0; i < maxI; i++){
        if ((-X/2 <= x) && (x <= X/2) && (-Y/2 <= y) && (y <= Y/2)) {
            System.out.println(x+","+y);
            //DO STUFF
        }

        if( (x == y) || ((x < 0) && (x == -y)) || ((x > 0) && (x == 1-y))) {
            t=dx; dx=-dy; dy=t;
        }   
        x+=dx; y+=dy;
    }
}

Answer 4

Solution for AutoIt

#include <Math.au3>
#include <Array.au3>

Func SpiralSearch($xMax,$yMax)
    $x = 0
    $y = 0
    $dx = 0
    $dy = -1
    for $i=0 To _max($xMax, $yMax)^2-1 Step 1
        if -$xMax/2 < $x and $x <= $xMax/2 And -$yMax/2 < $y And $y <= $yMax/2 Then
            MsgBox(0, "We are here ", $x & " " & $y)
        EndIf
        if $x == $y or ($x < 0 and $x == -$y) or ($x > 0 and $x == 1-$y) Then
            _ArraySwap ($dx, $dy)
            $dx=-$dx
        EndIf
        $x += $dx
        $y += $dy
    Next
EndFunc

Answer 5

Davidont's excellent solution in VB.Net

    Public Function Spiral(n As Integer) As RowCol
    ' given n an index in the squared spiral
    ' p the sum of point in inner square
    ' a the position on the current square
    ' n = p + a
    ' starts with row 0 col -1
    Dim r As Integer = CInt(Math.Floor((Math.Sqrt(n + 1) - 1) / 2) + 1)

    ' compute radius : inverse arithmetic sum of 8+16+24+...=
    Dim p As Integer = (8 * r * (r - 1)) \ 2
    ' compute total point on radius -1 : arithmetic sum of 8+16+24+...

    Dim en As Integer = r * 2
    ' points by face

    Dim a As Integer = (1 + n - p) Mod (r * 8)
    ' compute the position and shift it so the first is (-r,-r) but (-r+1,-r)
    ' so square can connect

    Dim row As Integer
    Dim col As Integer

    Select Case Math.Floor(a \ (r * 2))
        ' find the face : 0 top, 1 right, 2, bottom, 3 left
        Case 0
            row = a - r
            col = -r
        Case 1
            row = r
            col = (a Mod en) - r
        Case 2
            row = r - (a Mod en)
            col = r
        Case 3
            row = -r
            col = r - (a Mod en)
    End Select

    Return New RowCol(row, col)
End Function

Answer 6

Here's my solution (in Python):

def spiral(X, Y):
    x = y = 0
    dx = 0
    dy = -1
    for i in range(max(X, Y)**2):
        if (-X/2 < x <= X/2) and (-Y/2 < y <= Y/2):
            print (x, y)
            # DO STUFF...
        if x == y or (x < 0 and x == -y) or (x > 0 and x == 1-y):
            dx, dy = -dy, dx
        x, y = x+dx, y+dy