Hi everyone! Sorry this isn't strictly a Python question but my algorithms professor contends that given the standard recursive-backtracking maze solving algorithm:
width=6 height=4 maze=[[1,0,1,1,0,1], [0,0,1,0,0,0], [1,0,1,0,1,0], [0,0,0,0,1,1]] visited = [[False for x in range(width)] for y in range(height)] sx=1 sy=2 ex=4 ey=0 def findPath(x,y): if (x < 0 or x >= width or y < 0 or y >= height): return False elif maze[y][x] == 1: return False elif visited[y][x]: return False elif (x == ex and y == ey): print "(%d,%d)"%(x,y), return True else: visited[y][x] = True if findPath(x-1,y) or \ findPath(x+1,y) or \ findPath(x,y-1) or \ findPath(x,y+1): print "(%d,%d)"%(x,y), return True else: return False print findPath(sx,sy) that it is possible to make it print the path to the finish in the order the steps were taken. That is, the algorithm as written produces: (4,0) (4,1) (3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (2,3) (1,3) (1,2) True Rather than (1,2) (1,3) (2,3) (3,3) (3,2) (3,1) (4,1) (4,0) True Furthermore, he claims it's a "one line change" without using a stack or any other extra data structure. But I can't figure it out to save my life. This isn't homework, there isn't credit on the line. I think he said it just to mess with us. Can anyone point me in the right direction? It's driving me crazy. The output it gives makes perfect sense, since it just prints out each step as the stack unwinds. Normally you would print the output BEFORE recursing, but in this case you only want to print the step if it is actually part of the path. And you don't know that until after the recursion. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks, Joel
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