Trees-Mazes-Python

Now that we have maze generation working, it’s time to get started on solving our maze.

We’ll solve our generated maze with two different methods:

  1. Randomized, pre-order depth first search (similar to how we generated the maze)
  2. Breadth first search

Using depth first search will generally be quicker but implementing both DFS and BFS will help you visualize each search algorithm.

More Bit Manipulation!

Go back to maze.py so we can finish up a few more methods needed for DFS solving of a maze.

cell_neighbors

First off, let’s update cell_neighbors. cell_neighbors is supposed to use state to determine which neighbors are important – we only implemented it for state == 'create'. When state == 'solve', we only want neighbors that are accessible (no wall in their direction) and unvisited (are not on a backtrack path or solution path yet). We’ll have to use both bitwise OR and bitwise AND for this.

[action]

Complete the implementation of cell_neighbors so that it:

creates empty list of neighbors
for each direction
    calculate new cell from cell
    if new cell in that direction is within the bounds of maze
        if state is create and all of new cell's walls are up
            add (new cell index, COMPASS index of direction) to neighbors
        if state is solve and no wall between cell and new cell
            if new cell not on solution or backtrack path
                add (new cell index, COMPASS index of direction) to neighbors
return neighbors

[solution]

The completed cell_neighbors method should look like this:

def cell_neighbors(self, cell):
    x, y = self.x_y(cell)
    neighbors = []
    for i in range(4):
        new_x = x + COMPASS[i][0]
        new_y = y + COMPASS[i][1]
        if self.cell_in_bounds(new_x, new_y):
            new_cell = self.cell_index(new_x, new_y)
            if self.state == 'create':
                if not (self.maze_array[new_cell] & WALL_BITS):
                    neighbors.append((new_cell, i))
            elif self.state == 'solve':
                if (self.maze_array[cell] & WALLS[i]):
                    if not (self.maze_array[new_cell] &
                            (BACKTRACK_BITS | SOLUTION_BITS)):
                        neighbors.append((new_cell, i))
    return neighbors

self.maze_array[cell] & WALL_BITS will be zero if cell has a wall in the direction of new_cell. (BACKTRACK_BITS | SOLUTION_BITS) combines the two bit masks. That means that you can use (self.maze_array[new_cell] & (BACKTRACK_BITS | SOLUTION_BITS)) to check if the cell contains any solution or backtrack path data.

visit_cell

visit_cell needs to wipe out all the solution bits of from_cell and set them to the current direction. Then it needs to add backtrack bits to to_cell pointing in the direction of from_cell.

We’ll need two new bitwise operators to do this:

  1. The compliment operator (~ in Python) – this flips all the bits. Zeros become ones and ones become zeros. ~0b1010 evaluates to 0b0101. We’ll use this to invert SOLUTION_BITS.
  2. The left bit shift operator (<< in Python) – this moves all the bits over. 0b1111 << 8 evaluates to 0b111100000000. We’ll use this to shift values from WALLS and OPPOSITE_WALLS to the right position for updating solution bits and backtrack bits respectively.

Take some time to play around with ~ and << in the Python interpreter.

[action]

Complete the implementation of visit_cell. It should clear the solution bits out of from_cell, update solution bits in from_cell using WALLS[compass_index], update the backtrack bits in to_cell using OPPOSITE_WALLS[compass_index]. Leave the call to draw_connect_cells or else the maze visualization will not be updated!

[solution]

The completed visit_cell method should look like this:

def visit_cell(self, from_cell, to_cell, compass_index):
    self.maze_array[from_cell] &= ~SOLUTION_BITS
    self.maze_array[from_cell] |= (WALLS[compass_index] << 8)
    self.maze_array[to_cell] |= (OPPOSITE_WALLS[compass_index] << 12)
    self.draw_visited_cell(from_cell)

backtrack

backtrack is a simple one. All we have to do is clear out the solution bits of cell.

[action]

Complete the implementation of backtrack.

[solution]

The completed backtrack method should look like this:

def backtrack(self, cell):
    self.maze_array[cell] &= ~SOLUTION_BITS
    self.draw_backtracked_cell(cell)

Solving with Depth First Search

The pseudocode below should look very familiar. There is not much of a difference between maze generation and maze solving using DFS.

Pseudocode for Solving a Maze with DFS

create a stack for backtracking
set current cell to 0
set visited cells to 0

while current cell not goal
    get unvisited neighbors using cell_neighbors
    if at least one neighbor
        choose random neighbor to be new cell
        visit new cell using visit_cell
        push current cell to stack
        set current cell to new cell
        add 1 to visited cells
    else
        backtrack current cell using backtrack method
        pop from stack to current cell
    call refresh_maze_view to update visualization

set state to 'idle'

[action]

Implement the pseudocode above in the solve_dfs function of solve_maze.py. Run python3 solve_maze.py dfs to see if your maze is getting solved correctly!

If you did everything right, your DFS solver should look like this:

Depth first search solving maze

Bit Manipulation for BFS

bfs_visit_cell

bfs_visit_cell is more simple than visit_cell used in DFS. It only needs to set the backtrack bits for cell to point towards the cell it came from.

[action]

Complete the implementation of bfs_visit_cell.

[solution]

The completed bfs_visit_cell method should look like this:

def bfs_visit_cell(self, cell, from_compass_index):
    self.maze_array[cell] |= (OPPOSITE_WALLS[from_compass_index] << 12)
    self.draw_bfs_visited_cell(from_cell)

reconstruct_solution

reconstruct_solution constructs a path from the start cell (root node) to cell by following the backtrack bits to build it in reverse. It should set the solution bits along the way.

[action]

Complete the implementation of reconstruct_solution using the following pseudocode:

draw cell as part of solution path with draw_visited_cell
isolate the four backtrack bits to previous cell bits
set i to index of previous cell bits in WALLS
use i to calculate index of previous cell, set to previous cell
update solution bits of previous cell to point towards cell
call refresh_maze_view to update visualization
if previous cell not start cell, reconstruct_solution(previous cell)

[solution]

The completed reconstruct_solution method should look something like this:

def reconstruct_solution(self, cell):
    self.draw_visited_cell(cell)
    prev_cell_bits = (self.maze_array[cell] & BACKTRACK_BITS) >> 12
    try:
        i = WALLS.index(prev_cell_bits)
    except ValueError:
        print('ERROR - BACKTRACK BITS INVALID!')
    x, y = self.x_y(cell)
    prev_x = x + COMPASS[i][0]
    prev_y = y + COMPASS[i][1]
    prev_cell = self.cell_index(prev_x, prev_y)
    self.maze_array[prev_cell] |= (OPPOSITE_WALLS[i] << 8)
    self.refresh_maze_view()
    if prev_cell != 0:
        self.reconstruct_solution(prev_cell)

Solving with Breadth First Search

Breadth first search visits all immediate children in order. We’ll be using the pseudocode below to implement BFS to solve some mazes.

Pseudocode for Solving a Maze with BFS

create a queue
set current cell to 0
set in direction to 0b0000
set visited cells to 0
enqueue (current cell, in direction)

while current cell not goal and queue not empty
    dequeue to current cell, in direction
    visit current cell with bfs_visit_cell
    add 1 to visited cells
    call refresh_maze_view to update visualization

    get unvisited neighbors of current cell using cell_neighbors, add to queue

trace solution path and update cells with solution data using reconstruct_solution

set state to 'idle'

[action]

Implement the pseudocode above in the solve_bfs function of solve_maze.py. Run python3 solve_maze.py bfs to see if your maze is getting solved correctly!

If you did everything right, your BFS solver should look like this:

Breadth first search solving maze

Stretch Goals

If you’re enjoying this and want to do more, here are some ideas: