Interview Question for Software Engineer at Google:

What if you don't know the game??

Then you fail the Game of Life

assuming board in matrix nXn, every round in O(n^2)
package com.google.interview2;

import java.util.Random;

public class GameOfLife {

    public static void gameOfLift(int[][] game){
        for (int i=0; i<game.length; ++i){
            for (int j=0; j<game.length; ++j){
                int numOfNeigh = howMuchNeigh(game, i, j);
                if (game[i][j]==1 && (numOfNeigh == 0 || numOfNeigh == 1)){
                    game[i][j] = 0;
                }
                if (game[i][j]==1 && numOfNeigh > 3){
                    game[i][j] = 0;
                }
                if (game[i][j]==0 && numOfNeigh == 3){
                    game[i][j] = 1;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    public static int howMuchNeigh(int[][] game, int i, int j){
        int starti,endi,startj,endj;
        if (i > 0){
            starti = i-1;
        }
        else{
            starti = i;
        }
        if (i < game.length-1){
            endi = i+1;
        }
        else{
            endi=i;
        }
        if (j > 0){
            startj = j-1;
        }
        else{
            startj = j;
        }
        if (j < game.length-1){
            endj = j+1;
        }
        else{
            endj=j;
        }
        int numOfneigh=0;
        for (int ind = starti; ind <=endi; ++ind){
            for (int ind2 = startj; ind2 <=endj; ++ind2){
                if (game[ind][ind2] == 1 && !(ind==i && ind2==j)){
                    ++numOfneigh;
                }
            }
        }
        return numOfneigh;
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int[][] game = new int[5][5];
         Random generator = new Random();
        for (int i=0; i<10; ++i){
            int ind =generator.nextInt(5);
            int ind2 =generator.nextInt(5);
            game[ind][ind2] = 1;
        }
        for(int i=0; i<5; ++i){
            for (int j=0; j<5; ++j){
                System.out.print(game[i][j]+" ");
            }
            System.out.println();
        }
        gameOfLift(game);
        System.out.println("after one round");
        for(int i=0; i<5; ++i){
            for (int j=0; j<5; ++j){
                System.out.print(game[i][j]+" ");
            }
            System.out.println();
        }
        gameOfLift(game);
        System.out.println("after second round");
        for(int i=0; i<5; ++i){
            for (int j=0; j<5; ++j){
                System.out.print(game[i][j]+" ");
            }
            System.out.println();
        }
        gameOfLift(game);
        System.out.println("after third round");
        for(int i=0; i<5; ++i){
            for (int j=0; j<5; ++j){
                System.out.print(game[i][j]+" ");
            }
            System.out.println();
        }

    }

}

are you sure?