Algorithm longestLine$()$

$//$ Scan first the rows of the grid from bottom to top

Create an object of the class Line representing a horizontal line starting at the first row and first column

of grid and of length $1.$ Store the address of this object in a variable called longLine.

largest $=0$

for each row $i$ of the grid starting at the bottom and moving to the top do $\{$

letter $=$ letter at row i and leftmost column of the grid

adjacent $=1$

for each column $j$ of the grid starting at the second one and moving to the right do $\{$

if letter at row i and column $j$ of the grid is equal to letter and letter $$ blank space then $\{$

increase adjacent

if adjacent is bigger than largest then $\{$

largest $=$ adjacent

longLine $=$ new object of the class Line representing a horizontal line

starting at row i and column $j-$ adjacent $+1($Why this column?$)$

of length adjacent

$\}$

$\}$

else $\{$

letter $=$ letter at row i and column $j$ of the grid

adjacent $=1$

$\}$

$\}$

$//$ Now scan the columns from left to right; each column is scanned from the bottom to the top

for each column $j$ of the grid starting at the leftmost one and moving to the right do $\{$

letter $=$ letter at the bottom row of the grid and column $j$

adjacent $=1$

for each row $i$ of the grid from the second row from the bottom and moving to the top do $\{$

if letter at row i and column $j$ of the grid is equal to letter and letter $$ blank space then $\{$

increase adjacent

if adjacent is bigger than largest then $\{$

largest $=$ adjacent

longline $=$ new object of the class Line representing a vertical line

starting at row i and column $j$ of length adjacent

$\}$

$\}$

else $\{$

letter $=$ letter at row i and column $j$ of the grid

$\}$

adjacent $=1$

$\}$

if the length of longline is larger than $2$ then return longline else return null