The required helper functions for solving the puzzle are provided in the puzzle.h file. To compile the code open the required directory in the Terminal and type:
g++ 8puzzle.cpp -o puzzle.exe
Once the code is compiled, run the following command for execution
./puzzle.exe 2
- This will solve the puzzle for the initial state(column-wise): {7, 0, 8, 5, 3, 1, 4, 2, 6} and goal state(column-wise){1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 0}.
- To execute the code for a different initial state(for eg., {1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 0}), than provided run the previous command as follows:
./puzzle.exe 3 147258306
- To execute the code for both a different initial state(for eg., {1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 0}) and a different goal state {1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 0}, then use the above command as:
./puzzle.exe 4 <start state> <goal state>
There is also a bash script in the folder which runs the matlab GUI showing the puzzle being solved. The script is run automatically once the puzzle is solved by the code and required text files are generated. Once the code completes type exit on the terminal to close the program.
In addition to the check for Goal state, I have also included checks in the program to check for the uniqueness of each node and solvability of the given initial condition if the end goal is fixed: {1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 0}. Feel free to look through them.