Problem

Write a program that creates a string that represents an 8×8 grid, using newline characters to separate lines.

At each position of the grid there is either a space or a "#" character. The characters should form a chessboard.

Passing this string to console.log should show something like this:

   # # # #   
    # # # #  
   # # # #   
    # # # #  
   # # # #   
    # # # #  
   # # # #

Discussion

1. Personally I'm not a fan of the "?" syntax. I think Python's ternary operator looks cleaner.

2. It's possible to use a ternary operator in place of a regular if is possible, but I find it quite unreadable.

Solution

1. Solution 1: Explicit and repetitive.

   ``` javascript
   grid_size = 8
   invert = true
   
   for (let row = 0; row < grid_size; row++) {
       row_string = `${row+1} `
   
       if (invert) {
           white = " "
           black = "#"
       } else {
           white = "#"
           black = " "
       }
   
       for (let col = 0; col < grid_size; col++) {
   
           if (col % 2 === 0) {
               row_string += `${white}`
           } else {
               row_string += `${black}`
           }
       }
       console.log(row_string)
       invert = invert ? false : true
   }
   ```
   

2. Solution 2: cleaner, shorter. The ternary operator here isn't as readable as an if statement. I also find it quite confusing, since the .reverse() method comes as a statement, and does not mark a return value.

   ```javascript
   grid_size = 8
   invert = true
   switches = [" ", "#"]
   
   for (let row = 0; row < grid_size; row++) {
       row_string = `${row + 1} `
       row % 2 === 0 ? switches : switches.reverse()
   
       for (let col = 0; col < grid_size; col++) {
   
           if (col % 2 === 0) {
               row_string += `${switches[0]}`
           } else {
               row_string += `${switches[1]}`
           }
       }
       console.log(row_string)
   }
   ```