DWITE Online Computer Programming Contest
October 2008
Problem 3
School's a maze
#########A#########
#...#.........#...#
#...#.#######.#...#
#..B#.#FGHIJ#.#E..#
#.................#
#####.#######.#####
#.....#.....#.....#
#..C#.#.....#.#D..#
#...#.#.....#.#...#
#####K#######L#####

Given this overly-imaginative layout of a tiny 5 room (1 of which happens to be missing a door) floorplan; letters ABCDEFGHIJKL mark the points of interest. Given a daily schedule, as a sequence of letters, how much would one have to walk, while taking the most optimal paths?

Walking is done on . (period)s and letters. There are no diagonal movement. For reference: distance between B to F is 6. From F to J is 4. And so the path BFJE will be 16. If a letter is consecutively followed by itself (such as BB), the distance is 0.

The input file DATA3.txt will contain 10 lines, a copy of the same map as presented above. It will be followed by 5 more lines, each a string made up of mentioned capital letters (ABCDEFGHIJKL), 1 <= N < 20 in length, describing the schedule.

The output file OUT3.txt will contain 5 lines -- optimal distance travelled, for the plan specified.

Sample Input: 
#########A#########
#...#.........#...#
#...#.#######.#...#
#..B#.#FGHIJ#.#E..#
#.................#
#####.#######.#####
#.....#.....#.....#
#..C#.#.....#.#D..#
#...#.#.....#.#...#
#####K#######L#####
A
ABBB
ABCK
FGHIJ
KEBK
Sample Output: 
0
11
25
4
38