Sequence of elements in a matrix

[Berisades]

Hi,
I have a 3x3 matrix and I am trying to figure out whether there is a sequence of three similar elements diagonally, horizontally or vertically. For example:

x x o
o x o
o o x

Is there any algorithm dedicated on this kind of problem?

[Zachm]

Algorithmically speaking, this is not such a difficult problem to handle that it would require some sort of special algorithm.

You can do this:
I assume that the matrix M[3][3] is accessed by indices 0..2, the 1st index is the row index and the 2nd is the column index.

1. Check the type of element in the matrix center(M[1][1]) - let's say it's of type T (T being either x of o).
2. Now check if one of the following is true:

     a. (M[0][1] == T)  AND (M[2][1] == T) //center top && center bottom elements
     b. (M[1][0] == T)  AND (M[1][2] == T) //center left&& center right elements
     c. (M[0][0] == T)  AND (M[2][2] == T) //top left && bottom right 
     d. (M[0][2] == T)  AND (M[2][0] == T) //top right && bottom left

3. If either a,b,c or d are true, then type T is the winner, otherwise, repeat the same trick using the top right element as starting point, only this time you only need to check the horizontal & vertical elements on the same row/column.

Regards,
Zachm