[Leetcode] 52. N-Queens II

Follow up for N-Queens problem.

Now, instead outputting board configurations, return the total number of distinct solutions.

public class Solution {
    private int result;
    public int totalNQueens(int n) {
        result = 0;
        if(n <= 0) return result;
        int[] columns = new int[n];
        helper(n, columns, 0);
        return result;
    }
    private void helper(int n, int[] columns, int row){
        if(row == n){
            result++;
            return;
        }
        for(int i = 0; i < n; i++){
            if(isValid(columns, row, i)){
                columns[row] = i;
                helper(n, columns, row + 1);
            }
        }
    }
    private boolean isValid(int[] columns, int row1, int column1){
        for(int row2 = 0; row2 < row1; row2++){
            if(columns[row2] == column1) return false;
            int diff = Math.abs(column1 - columns[row2]);
            if(diff == (row1 - row2)) return false;
        }
        return true;
    }
}