How should I practice Minimum Moves?

Start by reading the full statement, solve the visible examples, then compare the pattern against related Harness online assessment problems in FastPrep.

Is Minimum Moves associated with Harness?

FastPrep tags this as a Harness online assessment coding practice problem when the problem catalog has that company and stage context.

Minimum Moves

Harness● MediumFULLTIMEOA

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Problem statement

You are given an n x m grid maze. A cell containing 0 is open, and a cell containing 1 is an obstacle. Start at (0, 0) and reach (n - 1, m - 1).

In one move, choose one of the four cardinal directions and a distance from 1 through k. The destination must be inside the grid, and every cell crossed, including the destination, must be open. You cannot jump over an obstacle.

Return the minimum number of moves needed, or -1 if the destination is unreachable.

For this exercise, assume a blocked starting or destination cell makes the journey impossible. If the grid consists of one open cell, return 0.

Function

getMinimumMoves(maze: int[][], k: int) → int

Examples

Example 1

maze = [[0,0,0,0],[1,1,0,0],[0,0,0,0]]k = 2return = 3

One shortest route is (0,0) → (0,2) → (2,2) → (2,3). Each move crosses only open cells and travels at most 2 cells. A two-move route cannot cover the required horizontal distance of 3 and vertical distance of 2, so the answer is 3.

Example 2

maze = [[0,0,1,0,0]]k = 4return = -1

The obstacle at (0,2) blocks the only row. A move cannot cross it, even though k is large enough to reach the final column.

Example 3

maze = [[0]]k = 1return = 0

The starting cell is already the open destination, so no move is needed.

Constraints

For this exercise, assume 1 <= n, m <= 100 and 1 <= k <= 100.
maze is rectangular, with n rows and m columns.
Every cell is either 0 or 1.