CityScape | Topcoder Archive

Problem Statement

Given an arrangement of buildings in a city, where their heights are given, you are to determine what this arrangement would look like on the horizon from the south.

For example, if you were given the following String[]:

{"18",
 "35"}

This would mean that in this four-block city, the northwest building has a height of 1, the northeast has a height of 8, the southwest has a height of 3, and the southeast has a height of 5.

The horizon from the south would have the following look:

--  
-X
-X
-X
-X
-X
XX
XX
XX

Where X is a building, and - is not.

Write a class CityScape which contains the method draw. This will take a String[] representing the top view of the city. Each position in the String[] will correspond to the height of one building. You are to return the view of the city from the south as a String[]. This should show hyphens (-) where a building is not visible, and capital Xs (X) where a building is visible.

For example, in the above, you would return the following String[].

{"--",
 "-X",
 "-X",
 "-X",
 "-X",
 "-X",
 "XX",
 "XX",
 "XX"}.

There should always be 9 elements in this String[], each representing a single row of the drawing. Element 0 represents the row at height 9, element 1 represents the row at height 8, and so on. Each element should be the same length, and the length may be anywhere from 1 to 30, depending on the size of the original city.

Definition

Class:: CityScape
Method:: draw
Parameters:: String[]
Returns:: String[]
Method signature:: String[] draw(String[] topView)
(be sure your method is public)

Notes

It is possible for a building to have a height of 0, (so, essentially, there is no building there.)

Constraints

topView will contain between 1 and 30 elements, inclusive.
each element of topView will contain between 1 and 30 characters, inclusive.
each element of topView will contain the same number of characters.
each element of topView will contain only the characters '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', and '9'.

Examples

{"18"
,"35"}

Returns: { "--",  "-X",  "-X",  "-X",  "-X",  "-X",  "XX",  "XX",  "XX" }

This is the example from above.

{"678917654"}

Returns: { "---X-----",  "--XX-----",  "-XXX-X---",  "XXXX-XX--",  "XXXX-XXX-",  "XXXX-XXXX",  "XXXX-XXXX",  "XXXX-XXXX",  "XXXXXXXXX" }

So we have these tall buildings, and I guess someone didn't want to give up their house.

{"1293842347472",
 "1934825837483",
 "9209482048309",
 "4832849249294",
 "3524983295924",
 "3498292924184"}

Returns: { "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXX" }

There is a 9 in every north-south column. Therefore, from the side, it looks like a solid block of city.

{"326106200030403002190140",
"624610061575010123216040",
"120611502203053100014253",
"100011202231454712141030",
"604312015012010070010120",
"014011244120124130034206",
"034116110002651001611020",
"235041060310022001073042",
"414302046120110004000010",
"331620041032162311040215",
"200620032603002010330051",
"211222310014006000310540",
"421826045032702323035051",
"000030117020200530350331",
"314110030202044433134530",
"230101001001120324181012",
"032113046305652011241120",
"445542332550031435325014",
"210564351162010441101040",
"117500113030021011124021",
"210142271104120032011120",
"010022026202123061681515",
"000111510020203042500202",
"024402036211433113601044",
"001031063221122221422014",
"214003173003413230300132",
"200320160110120110003432",
"110361011147471440203501"}

Returns: { "-------------------X----",  "---X---------------X----",  "--XX---XX-XXXX-XX--X----",  "X-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXX--X",  "X-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",  "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" }

Bright lights, big city...

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