Code to find the proper index comparing 3 values for max one

Question

I have an algorithm and the idea is to move over an array choosing as index the index of the neighboring cell that has the max value.
I.e.

if array[i + 1][j + 1] has the largest value among the 3 then move there.

enter image description here

I have 2 versions of this, but I think it can be cleaner.

version 1:

int maxI = i + 1; 
int maxJ = j + 1; 
if(array[i + 1][j] > array[maxI][maxJ]){ 
 maxI = i + 1; 
 maxJ = j; 
} 
if(array[i][j + 1] > array[maxI][maxJ]){ 
 maxI = i; 
 maxJ = j + 1; 
}
i = maxI; 
j = maxJ; 

version 2:

if(LCS[i + 1][j + 1] > LCS[i][j + 1] && LCS[i + 1][j + 1] > LCS[i + 1][j]){ 
 i++; 
 j++; 
} 
else{ 
 if(LCS[i][j + 1] > LCS[i + 1][j]){ 
 j++; 
 } 
 else{i++;} 
} 

Both versions occur in a while loop which I omitted for clarity.
How can these versions become better?

• MrSmith42: In Version 1 you can remove the line ` maxI = i + 1; ` in the first if-block, because it does not do anything.

Answer 1

I think it's easier to follow the second version. I've extracted out some helper variables:

 final int b = array[i][j + 1];
 final int c = array[i + 1][j];
 final int d = array[i + 1][j + 1];
 if (d > b && d > c) {
 i = i + 1;
 j = j + 1;
 } else if (b > c) {
 j = j + 1;
 } else {
 i = i + 1;
 }

It seems a little bit readable for me but to be honest I'm not completely satisfied with the result.