Day 8: Part 1

Problem Description

The challenge was to analyze a grid of values and determine the visibility of certain elements based on their height. The goal was to count how many elements are visible from the edges of the grid.

Approach

To solve this problem, I implemented the following steps:
1. Input Reading: I read the input data from a file, which contains a grid of height values.
2. Grid Representation: I stored the grid in a two-dimensional list for easy access to each element.
3. Visibility Checking: I iterated through each element in the grid, checking its visibility based on the defined rules (e.g., an element is visible if it is taller than all elements in the same row or column).
4. Count Visible Elements: I maintained a count of how many elements are visible and printed the final count.

This approach effectively checks visibility based on the grid structure.

Key Insights

• Using a grid representation is effective for problems involving spatial relationships.
• Efficiently checking visibility requires careful consideration of the rules.

Concepts and Algorithms Used

• Input Handling: Reading from files and processing strings.
• Data Structures: Two-dimensional lists for representing grids.
• Algorithms: Iteration and visibility checking.