Leetcode 59 Spiral Matrix II Java Solution
// SOLVING THIS WITH AN AI ASSISTANT (2026)
If you are working through this problem with an AI coding assistant — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor chat, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, Aider, or any agent — the goal isn’t to ask for the answer. It is to use the tool to understand the pattern. The prompt sequence I’d run:
- Spec it back to me first. “In your own words, what is this problem actually testing? What’s the smallest example that fails the naive approach?”
- Brute-force first, optimize after. “Write the simplest correct solution, even if it’s O(n²). Don’t optimize. Just make it correct, with comments explaining each step.”
- Ask for the upgrade. “Now show me the optimal solution. What insight makes it possible? What pattern is this an instance of?”
- Stress-test it. “Generate 10 edge cases — empty input, single element, duplicates, max size, sorted, reverse-sorted. Run my solution against each.”
The pattern matters more than the answer. If the agent just hands you optimized code, you’ve trained yourself to lose interviews.
Given a positive integer n, generate a square matrix filled with elements from 1 to n2 in spiral order.
Example:
Input: 3 Output: [ [ 1, 2, 3 ], [ 8, 9, 4 ], [ 7, 6, 5 ] ] Solution 1:
class Solution {
public int[][] generateMatrix(int num) {
int[][] spiralMatrix = new int[num][num];
int m = num;
int n = num;
int i =0;
int j = 0;
int k;
int number = 1;
while(j<n && i<m){
for( k=j;k<n;k++){
spiralMatrix[i][k] = number;
number++;
//System.out.println(spiralMatrix[i][k]+" "+i+" "+k);
}
i++;
for( k = i;k<m;k++){
spiralMatrix[k][n-1] = number;
number++;
// System.out.println(spiralMatrix[k][n-1]+" "+k+" "+(n-1));
}
n--;
if(i<m){
for( k = n-1; k>=j;--k){
spiralMatrix[m-1][k] = number;
number++;
// System.out.println(spiralMatrix[m-1][k]+" "+(m-1)+" "+k);
}
m--;
}
if(j<n){
for( k= m-1;k>=i;--k){
spiralMatrix[k][j] = number;
number++;
}
j++;
}
}
return spiralMatrix;
}
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