Question

The grid that models the world has a fixed width and height. Squares are identified by their x- and y-coordinates. We use a simple type, Vector (as seen in the exercises for the previous chapter ), to represent these coordinate pairs.

function Vector(x, y) {
  this.x = x;
  this.y = y;
}
Vector.prototype.plus = function(other) {
  return new Vector(this.x + other.x, this.y + other.y);
};

Next, we need an object type that models the grid itself. A grid is part of a world, but we are making it a separate object (which will be a property of a world object) to keep the world object itself simple. The world should concern itself with world-related things, and the grid should concern itself with grid-related things.

To store a grid of values, we have several options. We can use an array of row arrays and use two property accesses to get to a specific square, like this:

var grid = [["top left",    "top middle",    "top right"],
            ["bottom left", "bottom middle", "bottom right"]];
console.log(grid[1][2]);
// → bottom right

Or we can use a single array, with size width × height, and decide that the element at (x,y) is found at position x + (y × width) in the array.

var grid = ["top left",    "top middle",    "top right",
            "bottom left", "bottom middle", "bottom right"];
console.log(grid[2 + (1 * 3)]);
// → bottom right

Since the actual access to this array will be wrapped in methods on the grid object type, it doesn’t matter to outside code which approach we take. I chose the second representation because it makes it much easier to create the array. When calling the Array constructor with a single number as an argument, it creates a new empty array of the given length.

This code defines the Grid object, with some basic methods:

function Grid(width, height) {
  this.space = new Array(width * height);
  this.width = width;
  this.height = height;
}
Grid.prototype.isInside = function(vector) {
  return vector.x >= 0 && vector.x < this.width &&
         vector.y >= 0 && vector.y < this.height;
};
Grid.prototype.get = function(vector) {
  return this.space[vector.x + this.width * vector.y];
};
Grid.prototype.set = function(vector, value) {
  this.space[vector.x + this.width * vector.y] = value;
};

And here is a trivial test:

var grid = new Grid(5, 5);
console.log(grid.get(new Vector(1, 1)));
// → undefined
grid.set(new Vector(1, 1), "X");
console.log(grid.get(new Vector(1, 1)));
// → X

This is a book about getting computers to do what you want them to do. Computers are about as common as screwdrivers today, but they contain a lot more hidden complexity and thus are harder to operate and understand. To many, they remain alien, slightly threatening things.