Minesweeper, Bombcount method

Question

I have a method which checks all of its surrounding squares and returns the number of bombs around it. It uses a long list of if statements, which is pretty ugly and probably inefficient.

 public int countArround(){
 int bombNum = 0;
 //x=0 y=1 works
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation, yLocation+1)!=null)&&
 (((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation, yLocation+1)).getBomb())){
 bombNum++;
 }
 //x=1 y=1
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation+1, yLocation+1)!=null)&&
 ((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation +1, yLocation+1)).getBomb()){
 bombNum++;
 }
 //x=1 y=0 works
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation+1, yLocation)!=null)&&
 ((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation+1, yLocation)).getBomb()){
 bombNum++;
 }
 //x=1, y=-1 works
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation+1, yLocation-1)!=null)&&
 ((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation+1, yLocation-1)).getBomb()){
 bombNum++;
 }
 //x=0 y=-1
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation, yLocation-1)!=null)&&
 ((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation, yLocation-1)).getBomb()){
 bombNum++;
 } 
 //x=-1, y=-1 works
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation-1, yLocation-1)!=null)&&
 ((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation-1, yLocation-1)).getBomb()){
 bombNum++;
 } 
 //x=-1, y=0 works
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation-1, yLocation)!=null)&&
 ((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation-1, yLocation)).getBomb()){
 bombNum++;
 }
 //x=-1 y=1 works
 if(((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation-1, yLocation+1)!=null)&&
 ((SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation-1, yLocation+1)).getBomb()){
 bombNum++;
 }
 return bombNum;

I was wondering how this can be cleaned up. I cannot seem to get it into an if/while/for statement.

• 200_success: Related question: Neighbors of a matrix element

Answer 1

A double-for-loop over x and y seems appropriate.

Also, it seems like a good idea to assign (SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(...) to a variable.

int bombNum = 0;
for (int xOffset = -1; xOffset <= 1; xOffset++)
 for (int yOffset = -1; yOffset <= 1; yOffset++)
 {
 if (xOffset == 0 && yOffset == 0)
 {
 continue;
 }
 SmartSquare neighbour = (SmartSquare)board.getSquareAt(xLocation+xOffset, yLocation+yOffset);
 if (neighbour != null && neighbour.getBomb())
 {
 bombNum++;
 }
 }
return bombNum;

• Babbleshack: Beutiful thank you very much, Do you know any good sites/articles/books about code 'elegance'?
• Bernhard Barker: Glad I could help. No, unfortunately I don't know of any such resources.
• Mathieu Guindon: @Babbleshack Clean Code by Robert C. Martin: amazon.ca/Clean-Code-Handbook-Software-Craftsmanship/dp/…
• 200_success: I find this non-indentation to be a sneaky way to disguise the nested for-loop. Indent the inner loop! If you really want the characters in your code to line up vertically, put extra spaces between the "for" and left parenthesis of the outer for-loop.
• Bernhard Barker: @200_success Edited (not that I particularly agree - I find this to be unnecessary over-indentation). I assume what I did is what you meant by the extra spaces note.