@mattes is quite correct about the existence of possible ambiguities - I know it and have always known it since before I even wrote this thing.
As he says, it is a complication which is probably overlooked by most solutions. But actually it was never my intent for this Kata to to be concerned about those kind of problems (because it just wasn't meant to be that hard!), and that is why there are no test cases for them.
Soon I will update the Kata description to make a note about this point, and hopefully that will kill off further debate on this topic.
@Mattes - Well, I suspect there are many kata on this site that could be invalidated if unambiguous input is replaced with ambiguous. Besides, the perceived pattern in the fields is that horizontal cows are separated by periods ('.cow.') while vertical cows have a column of periods either side:-
...
.w.
.o.
.c.
...
using this boxing approach it would be impossible to end up with a field such as yours...
Surely this is incorrect input as we have three cows in the field all facing different directions whereas the assumption is there is only one wrong way cow
Description has been updated
FYI -
@mattes is quite correct about the existence of possible ambiguities - I know it and have always known it since before I even wrote this thing.
As he says, it is a complication which is probably overlooked by most solutions. But actually it was never my intent for this Kata to to be concerned about those kind of problems (because it just wasn't meant to be that hard!), and that is why there are no test cases for them.
Soon I will update the Kata description to make a note about this point, and hopefully that will kill off further debate on this topic.
Cheers,
DM
@Mattes - Well, I suspect there are many kata on this site that could be invalidated if unambiguous input is replaced with ambiguous. Besides, the perceived pattern in the fields is that horizontal cows are separated by periods ('.cow.') while vertical cows have a column of periods either side:-
...
.w.
.o.
.c.
...
using this boxing approach it would be impossible to end up with a field such as yours...
Those are mutant cows that share ass.
Surely this is incorrect input as we have three cows in the field all facing different directions whereas the assumption is there is only one wrong way cow
Yeah...I know. Am considering how best to deal with it. Thanks.