Flipping an Image

Problem Highlights

• 🔗 Leetcode Link: Flipping an Image
• 💡 Problem Difficulty: Easy
• ⏰ Time to complete: 15 mins
• 🛠️ Topics: Array, 2D-Array
• 🗒️ Similar Questions: Rotate Image, Transpose Matrix

1: U-nderstand

Understand what the interviewer is asking for by using test cases and questions about the problem.

• Established a set (2-3) of test cases to verify their own solution later.
• Established a set (1-2) of edge cases to verify their solution handles complexities.
• Have fully understood the problem and have no clarifying questions.
• Have you verified any Time/Space Constraints for this problem?

• Can the input grid be blank??
  • Let’s assume the grid is not blank. We don’t need to consider empty inputs.
• Can the row size be different from the column size?
  • Yes, the row size can be different from the column size.
• What are the time and space constraints?
  • Time complexity should be O(m*n), m being the rows of the array and n being the columns of array. Space complexity should be O(1).

HAPPY CASE
Input: image = [[1,1,0],[1,0,1],[0,0,0]]
Output: [[1,0,0],[0,1,0],[1,1,1]]
Explanation: First reverse each row: [[0,1,1],[1,0,1],[0,0,0]].
Then, invert the image: [[1,0,0],[0,1,0],[1,1,1]]

```markdown
Input: image = [[1,1,0,0],[1,0,0,1],[0,1,1,1],[1,0,1,0]]
Output: [[1,1,0,0],[0,1,1,0],[0,0,0,1],[1,0,1,0]]
Explanation: First reverse each row: [[0,0,1,1],[1,0,0,1],[1,1,1,0],[0,1,0,1]].
Then invert the image: [[1,1,0,0],[0,1,1,0],[0,0,0,1],[1,0,1,0]]

EDGE CASE

Input: matrix = [[1]]
Output: [[1]]

2: M-atch

Match what this problem looks like to known categories of problems, e.g. Linked List or Dynamic Programming, and strategies or patterns in those categories.

For 2D-Array, common solution patterns include:

• Perform a BFS/DFS Search through the 2D Array
  • A search through the 2D Array (either BFS or DFS) does not help us. We are flipping a image horizontally, then inverting it, not searching.
• Hash the 2D Array in some way to help with the Strings
  • Hashing would not help us flipping a image horizontally, then inverting it
• Create/Utilize a Trie
  • A Trie would not help us much in this problem since we are not trying to determine anything about a sequence of characters.

3: P-lan

Plan the solution with appropriate visualizations and pseudocode.

General Idea: Let's reverse each row, then flip every 1 to 0 and 0 to 1 in-place.

1) Use the reverse function on each row
2) For each row flip each item from 0 to 1 and 0 to 1

⚠️ Common Mistakes

• Not every 2D-Array problem follows the common techniques.

4: I-mplement

Implement the code to solve the algorithm.

class Solution:
    def flipAndInvertImage(self, image: List[List[int]]) -> List[List[int]]:
        # Use the reverse function on each row
        for row in image:
            row.reverse()

            # For each row flip each item from 0 to 1 and 0 to 1.
            for i, element in enumerate(row):
                if element == 1:
                    row[i] = 0
                else:
                    row[i] = 1
        
        return image

class Solution {
    public int[][] flipAndInvertImage(int[][] A) {
        int row = A.length;
        int col = A[0].length;
        int[][] result = new int[row][col];
        
		// Use the reverse function on each row
        for(int i = 0; i < row; i++){
            for(int j = 0; j < col; j++){
                result[i][j] = A[i][col-j-1];
            }
        }
        // For each row flip each item from 0 to 1 and 0 to 1.
        for(int i = 0; i < row; i++){
            for(int j = 0; j < col; j++){
                result[i][j] = result[i][j] == 1 ? 0 : 1;
            }
        }
        return result;
    }   
}

5: R-eview

Review the code by running specific example(s) and recording values (watchlist) of your code's variables along the way.

• Trace through your code with an input to check for the expected output
• Catch possible edge cases and off-by-one errors

6: E-valuate

Evaluate the performance of your algorithm and state any strong/weak or future potential work.

Assume N represents the number of rows in 2D-array. Assume M represents the number of columns in 2D-array.

• Time Complexity: O(N * M) we need to flip each item in the 2D-Array
• Space Complexity: O(1), because we are not using any additional space, we flip and invert the image in-place.