Shuffling or Randomizing an Array in C - c

Question

I'm just getting started on a project and am having some trouble. The idea is to make an 8x8 array that randomly generates an array with ten blocks, one random starting point, and the top right corner being an 'exit'. Then the program will find the quickest path and the output will be the randomly generated array as well as the directions to the exit (i.e., Up, Up, Right, Right, Up, Left)
Obviously there are many steps that I have to take afterwards to get the array to do what I want, but I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out how to set one up so it looks something along the lines of (E=exit, X=block, Z=starting point)
0 0 0 0 X 0 0 E
0 0 X 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 X 0
0 X 0 0 X 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X
X 0 0 X 0 Z 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 X 0 0 0 X 0
So far I have this program. It fortunately places the ten random -1s as well as the random starting point (I have it as '7' for now, but I will change it eventually), but I can't seem to guarantee that the upper right corner is not going to be one of the -1's that I need and then replaced by the 99 leaving the array with only nine -1's instead of the required ten.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define ROW 8
#define COLUMN 8
#define NUM 10
#define start 1
int main () {
int x, y;
int array[ROW][COLUMN];
for (x = 0; x < ROW; x++) {
for (y = 0; y < COLUMN; y++) {
array[x][y] = 0;
}
}
srand (time (NULL));
for (x = 0; x < NUM; x++) {
int t = rand () % ROW;
y = rand () % COLUMN;
if (array[t][y] != -1) {
array[t][y] = -1;
} else {
x--;
}
}
for (x = 0; x < start; x++)
{
int t = rand () % ROW;
y = rand () % COLUMN;
if (array[t][y] != 7) {
array[t][y] = 7;
} else { x--;
}
}
for (x = 0; x < ROW; x++) {
for (y = 0; y < COLUMN; y++) {
array[0][7] = 99;
printf ("%d ", array[x][y]);
}
printf ("\n");
}
return 0; }
any help would be greatly appreciated-I am a terrible programmer.

Answer 1

If I understand your question, then I would begin by initializing the array contents to zero (instead of -1) and I would also define the number of elements I want to randomly set to -1.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define ROW 8
#define COLUMN 8
#define NUM 10
int main (int argc, char *argv[]) {
int x, y;
int array[ROW][COLUMN];
for (x = 0; x < ROW; x++) {
for (y = 0; y < COLUMN; y++) {
array[x][y] = 0;
}
}
Then we can set NUM elements randomly to -1 like
srand (time (NULL));
for (x = 0; x < NUM; x++) {
int t = rand () % ROW;
y = rand () % COLUMN;
if (array[t][y] != -1) {
array[t][y] = -1;
} else {
x--;
}
}
Finally, we can print the results with something like
for (x = 0; x < ROW; x++) {
for (y = 0; y < COLUMN; y++) {
printf ("%d ", array[x][y]);
}
printf ("\n");
}
return 0;

Answer 2

I would have a 3-D array and have the first two dimensions randomized from 0-7 and the third dimension be randomized 0 and 1. 0 being a block and 1 being starting pointing. Having a for-loop for how many you want of each. Then fill the rest of the array with "0"'s