#SUDOKU
###Description
This app basically represents a sudoku validator/checker. My approach was mainly focusing on the correctness and extensibility of this game. My aim was to create a validator capable of validate also bigger sudoku than the classical dimension of 9x9. I didn't perform performance tests, but I've done (in my tests) some simple examples of 16x16 and 25x25 sudoku, without seeing a reduction of performances.
###Usage
The application can be launched in three different ways (without changing anything in the code)
-
through a terminal (following the specifications), specifying the .bat file and the input file:
validate.bat puzzleName.txt -
through the IDE, just launching the main class SudokuApp (debugging purposes etc...)
-
through a terminal, specifying just the .bat file, the default "puzzleName.txt" present inside the jar will be called by the respective classloader
###Build
To build the application, from the root of the project where the pom is present just do:
mvn clean install
###Testing/Reporting
I've tested all the classes reaching an overall coverage of 100% with jacoco I've just excluded in the coverage analysis the main class and the two classes/enum defined in the 'com.ubs.sudoku.model' package
To launch the tests and produce the reports you should launch:
mvn test
Once that is done, inside the target folder will be created another folder called "jacoco-report". Inside that folder there is an index.html page that is showing the report, with the coverage of branch/lines
###Doubts/Assumptions
####Formatting
On the description of the exercise there was a confusion about the file format to use (csv or txt). But asking to who has sent the exercise, the reply was to consider txt files So, let's see what should be in my context the representation of a sudoku of this form:
|9| |4| |6| |7| |1| | |2| |4| |3| |8| | |8| | | | | | | |4| | | |1|8|4|9|6| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |3|2|5|7|9| | | |4| | | | | | | |7| | |8| |6| |4| |5| | |5| |6| |8| |2| |3|
Wanted and so adopted representation (with , delimiter) :
9,,4,,6,,7,,1 ,2,,4,,3,,8, 8,,,,,,,,4 ,,1,8,4,9,6,, ,,,,,,,, ,,3,2,5,7,9,, 4,,,,,,,,7 ,8,,6,,4,,5, 5,,6,,8,,2,,3
Also spaces 1 or more ar accepted. So the previous one could be equivalent to :
9, ,4,,6,,7,,1 ,2,,4, ,3,,8, 8,, ,, ,,,,4 ,,1,8,4,9,6,, ,, ,, , , ,, ,,3,2,5,7,9,, 4,,,,,,,,7 ,8,,6,,4,,5, 5,,6,,8,,2,,3
###Algorithm
Basically the check happens in three phases
Phase 1: Parse and validation of the input (external file) to a matrix of strings
Phase 2: Transforming the matrix of string in matrix of int, substituting 0 to eventual spaces
Phase 3: check the dimensions (rows, columns, submatrices) to see if the sudoku is valid
###Logging
Is not a good practice use the stdout, but in this exercise the logging was not required