Diagonal Traverse - Solution & Explanation

This approach involves a direct simulation of the diagonal traversal. We use two variables, i and j, to represent the current position in the matrix, and a boolean direction to indicate whether we are moving upwards or downwards diagonally. The process toggles the direction once the boundaries of the matrix are reached, ensuring that the entire matrix is traversed correctly in a zig-zag order.

This C solution simulates diagonal traversal by using a loop that runs until all elements in mat are processed. By switching the direction based on boundary conditions, the code alternates between moving upwards and downwards along diagonals. The final result is stored in an array which is returned.

This approach leverages a hash map (or dictionary) to collect elements that belong to the same diagonal. The sum of the row and column indices i + j serves as the key, grouping all elements located on the same diagonal. After populating the hash map, we extract and append these elements to the result array, reversing them as needed to maintain the diagonal order.

This C implementation collects elements into arrays stored for each diagonal sum i + j using a dynamic allocation system. After filling these arrays, it extracts and appropriately reverses elements for diagonal order.