Max Area of Island - Solution & Explanation

In this approach, we will use Depth First Search (DFS) to explore the grid. The idea is to iterate over each cell in the grid and apply DFS when we encounter an unvisited cell that is a part of an island (i.e., grid value is 1). We will mark each visited cell to avoid revisiting. By keeping a count of the size of each island found, we can track the maximum size encountered.

This C solution defines a DFS function that recursively counts connected land cells. A visited matrix is used to ensure cells are only counted once. The main function iterates over all cells in the grid and updates the maximum area found.

A Breadth First Search (BFS) approach can also be used to solve this problem by iteratively exploring each cell's neighbors using a queue and counting the size of islands found. By enqueueing all land cell neighbors for exploration and tracking maximum sizes found, we can also determine the maximum island area.

This BFS C solution uses a queue to iteratively visit all land cells in a discovered island, marking them visited as they are dequeued. Queue-based exploration ensures that contiguous cells are considered in groups.