Candy at summer camp

Problem

Marisol hands out candy at the end of the camp day. The kids are already in line, each with a score, and she wants to spend as little as she can without anyone complaining.

You get the list of scores in line order (whole numbers; it may be empty). Every kid gets at least one candy, and a kid with a higher score than a neighbor right next to them, on the left or on the right, gets more candy than that neighbor. Equal scores carry no rule: either of the two may get less. Return the smallest possible total of candy, as a whole number. With no kids, it is 0.

With [3, 1, 2, 2]: the 1 gets 1; the 3 and the first 2 beat the 1 and get 2 each; the last 2 ties with its neighbor, so 1 is enough.

You return 6.

Examples

• The example

  [3, 1, 2, 2] → 6

• The middle one is the lowest

  [1, 0, 2] → 5

• The line goes from high to low

  [5, 4, 3, 2, 1] → 15

• The line goes from low to high

  [1, 2, 3, 4] → 10

• Up and then down

  [1, 3, 5, 4, 2, 1] → 13

Besides these, the challenge has hidden tests that are revealed when you submit your solution.

You start with this

def total_candy(scores):
    pass

function totalCandy(scores) {
}