• I used a helper function approach after realizing that the "Grid" needs to be updated in the same manner over and over again

• I have received feedback that storing a grid may take too much memory

• Would a "mathematical" approach actually be more readable? And would it be something that can be though of within 20ish minutes (interview time)

• I have many if statements that are used to exit out of loops to avoid array index errors

Any feedback or criticism is appreciated - nitpick on anything that seems off

• glaring issue is that this doesn't handle edge cases well. For example: "A 2"

https://leetcode.com/problems/zigzag-conversion/

class Solution:
    def convert(self, s: str, numRows: int) -> str:
        if numRows == 1:
            return s
        row = [''] * (len(s) // 2)
        self.s = s
        self.numRows = numRows
        self.final_grid = []

        for i in range(numRows):
            self.final_grid.append(list(row))

        self.addElements(0, 0)

        return "".join(map("".join, self.final_grid))


    def addElements(self, count, column):
        print(column, "beg")
        for i in range(self.numRows):
            if count > len(self.s) - 1:
                break
            self.final_grid[i][column] = self.s[count]
            count += 1

        for i in range(1, self.numRows - 1):
            if count > len(self.s) - 1:
                break

            self.final_grid[self.numRows - i - 1][column + i] = self.s[count]
            count += 1
            print(column, "end")
            print(column + self.numRows - 1)
        
        if count < len(self.s) - 1:
            self.addElements(count, (column + self.numRows - 1))