Candy Problem from leetcode

gistfile1.txt

There are N children standing in a line. Each child is assigned a rating value. You are giving candies to these children subjected to the following requirements: Each child must have at least one candy. Children with a higher rating get more candies than their neighbors. What is the minimum candies you must give?

var box = new CandyBox([2,4,7,8,3,4,6,2]);
var count = box.candyCount(); // => [1,2,3,4,1,2,3,1] => 17

min_candy.js

var CandyBox = function(ratings) {
    var self = {};    
    self.init = function(ratings) {
        self.ratings = ratings;
    }
    self.countCandies = function() {
        if (self.ratings.length <= 1) return ratings.length;
        ratings = self.ratings;
        var candies = ratings.map(function () { return 0; });
        var minPoints = [];
        
        // left edge
        if (ratings[1] >= ratings[0]) {
            candies[0] = 1;
            minPoints.push(0);
        }
        // right edge
        var end = ratings.length - 1;
        if (end > 0 && ratings[end] <= ratings[end - 1]) {
            candies[end] = 1;
            minPoints.push(end);
        }

        // find other min-points
        if (end - 1 > 0) {
            for (var i = 1; i < end - 1; i++) {
                if (candies[i] != 1) {
                    // if left AND right are greater than current rating, set min val.
                    var currentRating = ratings[i];
                    if (ratings[i - 1] >= currentRating && ratings[i + 1] >= currentRating) {
                        candies[i] = 1;
                        minPoints.push(i);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        // increment run
        var inc = function (i, val) {            
            // increment current
            var curVal = (val) ? val + 1 : candies[i];
            candies[i] = curVal;
            // left
            if (i - 1 >= 0 && candies[i - 1] == 0) {
                inc(i - 1, curVal);
            }
            // right
            if (i + 1 <= end && candies[i + 1] == 0) {
                inc(i + 1, curVal);
            }
        };
        minPoints.forEach(function(min) {
            inc(min);
        });

        return candies.reduce(function (prev, cur) {
            return prev + cur;
        });
    };
    self.init(ratings);
    return self;
};