Solving a maze is a classic backtracking algorithm problem. In this article, I’ll walk you through how to design an algorithm to create a maze solver with Python.
Maze Solver: Problem Statement
You are given a maze that indicates the starting and ending points, your goal is to design an algorithm, to:
- Determine if there is a path from the start point to the endpoint.
- Specify your path without using circles or loops.
When designing an algorithm to create a maze solver with Python, it will be easier to think of a maze as a collection of cells of equal size arranged in rows and columns as shown in the image below.
The image above shows that the maze cells are either filled with walls or empty to represent your path to the endpoint. You can also see that one cell represents the starting point and another the ending point.
Maze Solver with Python
A maze is a two-dimensional structure divided into rows and columns representing cells of equal size. All cells are filled with a wall and empty spaces that represent the path to the endpoint. You know two cells, one as a starting point and one as an endpoint.
To create a maze solver with Python, we need to choose a data structure to represent the maze and to represent the rollback algorithm that will be used to find the path from the start point to the endpoint. The best choice for choosing a data structure to store the maze is a two-dimensional array.
As we move through the maze we have to remember that the path we choose to go back to reach the dead end. The stack data structure is an ideal way to remember the path. As we continue to move forward through the maze towards the endpoint, we can also push our current position on the stack before moving on to the next cell.
Now let’s see how to design an algorithm to create a maze solver with Python programming language. I will make use of the Colorama module in Python here to see a colourful result of the maze solver:
Output:
I hope you liked this article on how to design an algorithm to create a maze solver with Python. You can learn about the implementation of maze solver using C++ programming language from here. Feel free to ask your valuable questions in the comments section below.
