Well... this is obviously not a puzzle
Yep, it is not; it is a puzzle terminator.
Make sure you have gcc, make and pthread library
Once you have all of those
$ make
Output file is a executable(puzzle or puzzle.exe... depends on your platform)
First, run the executable and you should see
SIZE = 3x3
THREADS = 1
LEVEL = FAST
Input puzzle for GOAL:
(...wait for input)
SIZE is the size of the puzzle.
In this case is 3x3 (This is default value) .
THREADS indicates how many threads will be participating in finding an answer
In this case is just one(This is default value).
LEVEL = FAST means that the program will search for an quick, but not best answer.
(This is default value)
In the contrast,
LEVEL = BEST will cost a lot of time and memory
(and high chance of crashing if you are compiling in 32bit)
for the best solution.
Second, you need a unsolved 8-puzzle.
Like this
Source
The typical goal for this game is
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 0
And the current game is
7 1 3
4 8 0
2 6 5
Type those to this program and it will crack it in just few seconds.
Hit Enter to see steps to the solution.
You may want to specify more number of threads if you have more than one core
For example, this will have 4 threads runnung to solve the game.
$ ./puzzle thread 4
You may want to specify larger size of game if you are bored of 3x3 puzzle.
For example, this will change from 3x3 to 5x5.
$ ./puzzle size 5
You may not want to hit Enter multiple times in order to see all detailed steps
(This is common when redirecting output to a file.)
if this argument is set, then the program will not wait before printing solution steps.
$ ./puzzle noninteract
You may want the perfect solution with least moves.
USE WITH CAUTION, NOT RECOMMENDED IN 32-BIT
if this argument is set, then the program will try to find the best result(see above).
$ ./puzzle best
All of the above arguments can be used in combination.
For example
# ./puzzle size 5 thread 4