Problem 1440. USC Spring 2013 ACM: Snow Cones

This Challenge is to solve the USC Spring 2013 ACM Contest Problem F, Snow Cones.

Summary of Challenge is to Swap the Snow Cones in the minimal number of swaps so the children all have their selected flavor. There are only two flavors, X and O. Input is the string of distributed Cone flavors and a string of desired Cone flavors. Adjacent children may exchange cones but in any one round a child may only swap with one other child.

Determine minimum number of Swap rounds to convert the Distributed to the Desired Cone flavor sequence.

Input: From XXO to OXX Output: 2

Input: From OXOX to XOXO Output: 1

Only two competitors solved this challenge.

A little complex requiring a Matlab 3-Liner solution versus Cao's C solution