Spent too long overthinking the random placement logic and not enough time on clean output formatting.
Clarify the requirements first: grid dimensions, number of mines, and whether the printed grid should show mine locations or counts. Then outline a solution that initializes the grid, randomly places mines without duplicates, and prints the grid in a readable format. Finally, discuss potential edge cases and optimizations.
Pro tip: Mention that you would use a Fisher-Yates shuffle or reservoir sampling to place mines uniformly at random without duplicates, and discuss how to scale the solution for large grids.
Ask about grid size, mine count, and whether the output should display mines as '*' and empty cells as '.' or include adjacent mine counts. Confirm if the grid is fixed or user-specified.
Choose a 2D array (list of lists) to represent the grid. Decide on a sentinel value for mines (e.g., -1) and initialize all cells to 0 or empty.
Use a random number generator to select unique positions for mines. Ensure no duplicates by using a set or by shuffling a list of all possible positions and taking the first N.
Iterate through the grid and print each cell according to the chosen representation (e.g., '*' for mines, '.' for empty). Format with spaces or separators for readability.
Consider cases like zero mines, all mines, or grid too small for mine count. Mention time/space complexity and potential optimizations for large grids.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.