2023-08-27 13:09:07 +02:00
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# maze-solver-go
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## Introduction
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This is a simple little maze solver made for fun and practise writing code in
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golang. This project is a complete re-write of another maze solver I've written
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in Java back in 2018 after the first semester of uni at EPFL. Needless to say,
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this version is _way_ better as I have written it now that I have my Bachelor's
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degree in Computer Science.
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### Goal of the project
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The goal of this side project was to deepen my understanding of path-finding
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algorithms, together with trying to create a good design, focusing on
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dependency injection and unit testing. It was very instructive.
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Not to brag or anything, but the design was quite good, because after
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completing the following steps of the project:
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- reading a maze;
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- solving it;
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- writing the solution to the file-system;
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2023-08-27 13:33:22 +02:00
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an idea came to my mind: add the feature of visualizing the progress of the
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solving algorithm by opening a window that displays the progress of the solver.
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Well, each module (readers, writers and solvers) were design to be as decoupled
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as possible, and it allowed me to implement the `visualizer` feature in only a
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couple of hours (which I was honestly not expecting).
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## Dependencies
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- `go >= 1.21`
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- `ffmpeg` (optional, for video visualization, see [visualization methods](#visulazation-methods)
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## Usage
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After downloading `maze-solver` from the
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[assets of the latest release](releases/latest "Latest release"), you can use
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it with the following arguments
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2023-08-27 18:36:38 +02:00
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| Short | Long | Default | Description |
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| ----- | ----------------- | ---------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| -h | --help | | Print help information |
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| -v | --verbose | 0 | Verbose level of the solver, see [verbose levels](#verbose-levels) |
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| -i | --input | `maze.png` | Input file, can be a `.txt` or `.png` file |
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| -o | --output | `sol.png` | Output file, can be a `.txt` or `.png` file |
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| | --path-char-in | `' '` | Character to represent the path in an input text file. |
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| | --wall-char-in | `'#'` | Character to represent the wall in an input text file. |
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| | --path-char-out | `' '` | Character to represent the path in an output text file. |
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| | --wall-char-out | `'#'` | Character to represent the wall in an output text file. |
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| | --cell-size-in | 3 | Size of a cell (in pixels) for input file of image type. |
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| | --cell-size-out | 3 | Size of a cell (in pixels) for output file of image type. |
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| -a | --algo | a-star | Algorithm to solve the maze, see [solving algorithms](#solving-algorithms) |
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| | --visualize | | Visualizer the progress of the solver, see [visualization methods](#visulazation-methods) |
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| | --video-name | `sol.mp4` | Name of the output file if --visualize is set to 'video'. |
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| | --video-framerate | 60 | Framerate of the video if --visualize is set to 'video'. |
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### Verbose levels
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| Level | Description |
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| ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 0 | nothing printed to stdout |
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| 1 | print the total time taken by the solver (time of the main() function) |
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| 2 | prints the time the solving algorithm took to run |
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| 3 | prints the time taken by each section (reader, solving algorithm, writer) |
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### Visualization methods
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| Option | Description |
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| ------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| window | will give a live feed of the solver |
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| video | creates a video where each frame is a step the solving algorithm takes |
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2023-08-27 13:33:22 +02:00
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### Solving algorithms
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| Option | Description |
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| -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| dfs | [Depth-first search](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth-first_search "Wikipedia: Depth-first search") |
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| bfs | [Breadth-first search](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadth-first_search "Wikipedia: Breadth-first search") |
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| dijkstra | [Dijkstra's algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijkstra%27s_algorithm "Wikipedia: Dijkstra's algorithm") |
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| a-star | [A\*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm "Wikipedia: A* search algorithm") |
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2023-08-27 18:36:38 +02:00
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## Examples
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2023-08-27 18:59:23 +02:00
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| BFS | DFS |
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| :----------------------------------------: | :-----------------------------------: |
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| **Dijkstra** | **A\*** |
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