LiamGitGoing / edu-maze

A Maze generator and solver used for educational purposes

This is a maze generator and solver. It is a simple deskptop app that uses python and tkinter. Here is some documentation of the functions

redraw() method

this will redraw all the graphics in the window. Tkinter is not a reactive framework like React or Vue - we need to tell the window when it render to visuals.

The redraw() method on the window class simply call the root widget's update_idletasks() and update() methods. Each time this is called, the window will redraw itself.

Cell draw_move() method

It draws a line from the center of one cell to another. The method definition look something like this:

def draw_move(self, to_cell, undo=False):

The undo flag is not set, the line to draw is "red". Otherwise make it "gray". This is so that when we go to draw the path, whenever we backtrack we can show that in a different color to better visualize what's happening.

Use the x/y coordinates of the 2 cells in question to decide how to draw the line connecting the two cells.

_break_walls_r(self, i, j)

The recursive break_walls_r method is a breadth-first traversal through the cells, breaking down walls as it goes. I'll describe the algorithm I used,

1. Mark the current cell as visited
2. In a loop:
   1. Create a new empty list which will hold the i and j values you need to visit
   2. Check the cells that are directly adjacent to the current cell. If one isn't visited, keep track of it as a "possible direction" that you can move in.
   3. If there are no directions you can go from the current cell, then draw the current cell and return to break out of the loop
   4. Otherwise, pick a random direction.
   5. Knock down the walls between the current cell and the chosen cell.
   6. Move to the chosen cell by recursively calling _break_walls_r

Solve the maze

solve() method

The solve() method on the Maze class simply calls the _solve_r method starting at i=0 and j=0. It return True if the maze was solved, False otherwise. This is the same return value as _solve_r.

_solve_r method

This is a depth-first first solution to the maze. Here were my steps.

The _solve_r method returns True if the current cell is an end cell, OR if it leads to the end cell. It returns False if the current cell is a loser cell.

1. Call the _animate method.
2. Mark the current cell as visited
3. If you are at the "end" cell (the goal) then return True.
4. For each direction:
   1. If there is a cell in that direction, there is no wall blocking you, and that cell hasn't been visited:
      1. Draw a move between the current cell and that cell
      2. Call _solve_r recursively to move to that cell. If that cell returns True, then just return True and don't worry about the other directions.
      3. Otherwise, draw an "undo" move between the current cell and the next cell
5. If none of the directions worked out, return False.

Update the main function

Call maze.solve() in the main function and watch your algorithm do its work!

This code is written by Lane Wagner who gave permission to use it for this exercise. It was originally produced for boot.dev