Recently I was given Mars Rover Problem and told that my solution was pretty cool. Before that I assumed this is how everybody else was doing it ;). Here is golang implementation. Enjoy!

Design

Position and orientation are represented as complex numbers implemented as type vect. Builtin complex type is not used because it uses floats which they can’t be compared easily.

In calculations below $j = \sqrt{-1}$.

Multiplication of complex numbers allow us to rotate.

$L$: To rotate by $90^o$ left we multiply by $j$.

$R$: To rotate by $90^o$ right we multiply by $-j$.

Mapping of directions to complex numbers.

$North = j$

$East = 1$

$West = -1$

$South = -j$

Example: A rover is looking $North$ and we issue $R$ command. We expect the rover to look $East$.

$$ North * R = j * -j = 1 = East $$ Position unchanged.

Addition of complex numbers allow for movements on the grid.

Example: A rover is at $(1,2)$ looking to $East$ and we issue $M$ command we expect it to be at $(2,2)$.

$$ \text{Rover positioned at} \ (1,1) + E = (1 + 2j) + 1 = 2 + 2j = (2, 2) $$ Orientation unchanged.