dinoperovic / path-following-algorithm-code-challange

Path following algorithm in ASCII Map

Path following algorithm (Code challange)

Path following algorithm in ASCII Map.

This script requires Python 3.4 or higher.

How to use

Script can be used by either specifying the paths to files, or passing the input directly.

$ python follow_path.py examples/map1.txt
Letters: "ACB"
Path as characters: "@---A---+|C|+---+|+-B-x"

$ python follow_path.py examples/map1.txt examples/map2.txt
Letters: "ACB"
Path as characters: "@---A---+|C|+---+|+-B-x"
Letters: "ABCD"
Path as characters: "@|A+---B--+|+----C|-||+---D--+|x"

$ cat examples/map3.txt | python follow_path.py
Letters: "BEEFCAKE"
Path as characters: "@---+B||E--+|E|+--F--+|C|||A--|-----K|||+--E--Ex"

Usage from Python

To use from Python you can use the FollowPath class or a shorthand function follow_path that returns values in (letters, characters) tuple format.

from follow_path import FollowPath, follow_path

MAP = """
  @---+
      B
K-----|--A
|     |  |
|  +--E  |
|  |     |
+--E--Ex C
   |     |
   +--F--+
"""

path = FollowPath(MAP)
path.run()
print(path.letters)
print(path.characters)

# Shorthand version
path = follow_path(MAP)
print(path[0])
print(path[1])

Both will output:

"BEEFCAKE"
"@---+B||E--+|E|+--F--+|C|||A--|-----K|||+--E--Ex"

Base logic explained

This script takes an ASCII map input formated like so:

@
| C----+
A |    |
+---B--+
  |      x
  |      |
  +---D--+

Starting at @ symbol, it follows the path while extracting uppercase letters as well as storing all the characters on the way. x symbol designates the end of path, while + sing is recognized as corner indicator. Uppercase letters can also indicate a corner and the same letter crossed more than once won't be saved as part of extracted letters.

Tests

Tests can be run with:

python tests.py