C++ program to find out the number of iterations needed to convert all cells to black

Suppose, we are given a grid that contains two types of cells; black cells, and white cells. The black cells are represented as '#' and the white cells are represented as '.'. The grid is given to us in an array of strings. Now, we have to perform the following.

We convert each white cell to black that has a side shared with a black cell. We perform this operation until every cell of the grid is black.
We count the number of iterations it takes to convert all cells of the grid to black. The grid at the start must contain one black cell.

So, if the input is like h = 4, w = 4, grid = {"#...", ".#.." , "....", "...#"}

#	.	.	.
.	#	.	.
.	.	.	.
.	.	.	#

then the output will be 3.

It takes 3 iterations to convert all cells to black.

Steps

To solve this, we will follow these steps −

Define an array dx of size: 4 containing := { 1, 0, - 1, 0 }
Define an array dy of size: 4 containing := { 0, 1, 0, - 1 }
Define one 2D array distance
Define one queue q that contain integer pairs
for initialize i := 0, when i < h, update (increase i by 1), do:
   for initialize j := 0, when j < w, update (increase j by 1), do:
      if grid[i, j] is same as '#', then:
         distance[i, j] := 0
         insert one pair(i, j) into q
while (not q is empty), do:
   first element of auto now = q
   delete element from q
   for initialize dir := 0, when dir < 4, update (increase dir by 1), do:
      cx := first value of now + dx[dir]
      cy := second value of now + dy[dir]
      if cx < 0 or cx >= h or cy < 0 or cy >= w, then:
         if distance[cx, cy] is same as -1, then:
            distance[cx, cy] := distance[first value of now, second value of now] + 1
         insert one pair (cx, cy) into q
ans := 0
for initialize i := 0, when i < h, update (increase i by 1), do:
   for initialize j := 0, when j < w, update (increase j by 1), do:
      ans := maximum of ans and distance[i, j]
print(ans)

Example

Let us see the following implementation to get better understanding −

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

void solve(int h, int w, vector <string> grid){
   int dx[4] = { 1, 0, -1, 0 };
   int dy[4] = { 0, 1, 0, -1 };
   vector<vector<int>> distance(h, vector<int>(w, -1));
   queue<pair<int, int>> q;
   for (int i = 0; i < h; i++) {
      for (int j = 0; j < w; j++) {
         if (grid[i][j] == '#') {
            distance[i][j] = 0;
            q.push(pair<int, int>(i,j));
         }
      }
   }
   while (!q.empty()) {
      auto now = q.front();
      q.pop();
      for (int dir = 0; dir < 4; dir++) {
         int cx = now.first + dx[dir];
         int cy = now.second + dy[dir];
         if (cx < 0 || cx >= h || cy < 0 || cy >= w) continue;
         if (distance[cx][cy] == -1) {
            distance[cx][cy] = distance[now.first][now.second] + 1;
            q.push(pair<int, int> (cx, cy));
         }
      }
   }
   int ans = 0; for (int i = 0; i < h; ++i) {
      for (int j = 0; j < w; ++j) {
         ans = max(ans, distance[i][j]);
      }
   }
   cout << ans << endl;
}
int main() {
   int h = 4, w = 4; vector<string>
   grid = {"#...", ".#.." , "....", "...#"};
   solve(h, w, grid);
   return 0;
}