Pathfinder

by Richard Pawson

Pathfinder is a simulation to explore Dijkstra, A*, and heuristic algorithms for finding the best path through a field with obstacles.

Download either the C# or VB solution and run it. Select one of the three 'scenarios' and hit Start, then hit Reset, change the Algorithm, and run again.

As well as the visual rendering of the nodes visited, and the final planned path, the window shows the path length and the total nodes visited. (Note that the robot can move one square only at a time, orthogonally or diagonally - but a diagonal move has a path length of the square root of 2.)