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Board Coloring :: Aspiration 2020 :: Question number 6
Board Coloring

Problem Description


In this problem you are given a board in which some of the elements are placed as shown in diagram below. Each element represents a color.
Fill the other elements in the board, such that none of the adjacent elements (vertically, horizontally and diagonally) should be of the same color.
Find out the minimum number of colors that should be used to fill the blank spaces in the board, so that the above condition is met.
Color representation is -: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…………………….
There is sample board:

For Example:

Given Board :

The matrix representation of board is :
[ _ 1 _ _ ]
[ 2 _ _ _ ]
[ _ _ 2 _ ]
[ 2 _ _ _ ]
In the above example the blank space is represented by ''_'' .
The minimum number of colors needed to fill the board in the example is 4.

Instruction to work with Open PBT Client:

Specify the work directory path in the ''Work Directory Path'' field. The path should correspond to your solution project directory.
Download the support files by clicking the Get Dev Files.
You will find the following three folders:
bin
src
lib
in your work directory.
Code the solution in . java file inside the src folder
All required files will be downloaded to your work directory. Creating additional files is strongly discouraged.

Step 1:
In your solution file:

Implement your logic in public int color(char[][] board) in class BoardColoring .
char[][] board : board is 2 dimensional matrix of order M X M where M = 4.

You can create more methods but, do it in the same class.

Step 2:
In your solution keep in mind the following constraints.

In this problem you have to write a program to find the minimum no of colors to fill a board where some of the elements of different color are already placed.
Method color() will take 2 D board as a input.
Method color() will return minimum no of colors which can fill the board with given condition.
The board should be a 2-dimensional M X M matrix, where M =4 otherwise return 0
Fill the other elements in the board, such that none of the adjacent elements (vertically, horizontally and diagonally) should be of the same color.

The Prototype of the method is:

public int color(char[][] board).
This method takes following arguments.

board is 2 dimensional matrix of order M X M where M = 4.

This method returns minimum no of color by which board can be filled.

The constraints are:

The board should be a 2-dimensional M X M matrix, where M =4 otherwise return 0
Fill the other elements in the board, such that none of the adjacent elements (vertically, horizontally and diagonally) should be of the same color.

Example 1
Input : { 2 0 _ 1 }
{ _ 1 _ _ }
{ _ 2 _ 0 }
{ _ _ _ 1 }
Output : 5

Explanation:
We need a minimum 5 different colors to complete the board.

Example 2
Input : { 2 0 _ 1 3}
{ _ 1 _ _ 2}
{ _ 2 _ 0 1}
{ _ _ _ 1 2}
{ _ _ _ _ 0}
Output : 0


Explanation:
Size of the board is greater than 4X4.

Example 3
Input : { _ 0 }
{ 1 _ }
Output : 0


Explanation:
Size of the board is less than 4X4.

For Java solutions
Package Name : test.boardcoloring
File Name : BoardColoring.java
Class Name : BoardColoring
Method Names : public int color(char[][] board)