#A* Was Born
This project was an attempt to implement A* algorithm from scratch in Python...... IN TWO HOURS!!!
Time spent: 2 hours
Authors:
- Evan Bluhm
- Alex French
- Elizabeth Gass
- Samuel Gass
- Margaret Yim
The original list of minimum requirements was:
- Read input problem from file
- Implement basic graph data structure
- Return optimal path from start to finish using A* algorithm
The key challenges identified were:
- Representation of input problems
- Data structure for storing problem
- Implementing A* when none of us know anything
- Graphs r hard guyz
The following improvements were stretch goals:
- Beautiful visuals with the following tiers:
- Display maze
- Display solution
- Animate solution
- Implement sample problems using Python unittest framework
During the project, we discovered several difficulties:
- Really, graphs are hard
- Time limit was optimistic
- Python bootstrapping was more intensive than expected
- Algorithm required complex problem representation in addition to implementation