练习使用Stack的用法,实现一个自动走迷宫的应用程序。
Purpose
To gain experience with
- Stacks
- Working with complex classes
- Exceptions
Task
Mazes can be solved by computers using a variety of algorithms. A simple
approach is to start at the beginning and search through all open spaces one
at a time until the end is found. You will create a program that searches for
the end of a maze made up of hexagonal tiles using a stack to keep track of
tiles yet to be checked.
Functional Specifications
For this assignment you are given a number of classes to use, and you will
also use some of the classes from Lecture. You will create a class MazeSolver
that has a main method only, which uses these classes to implement the maze
solving algorithm given below.
Classes from Lecture/Website you will need
- ArrayStack.java
- EmptyCollectionException.java
- StackADT.java
Provided Classes for this Assignment
- Maze.java - A class representing a Maze made up of Hexagon tiles. Opens in a graphical window.
- Hexagon.java - A class representing the Hexagon tiles in a Maze window.
- HexComponent.java - A superclass of Hexagon representing the graphical element
- HexLayout.java - A class allowing the Maze to lay out the Hexagon tiles correctly
- UnknownMazeCharacterException.java - An Exception to do with reading in the Maze from a file.
- InvalidNeighborIndexException.java - An Exception to do with accessing the neighbor of a Hexagon that cannot exist.
The main classes you will be working with are Maze and Hexagon. The Maze class
is initialized with a file representing the layout of the maze: maze0.txt,
maze1.txt, maze2.txt, maze3.txt, maze4.txt
The API for the provided classes will orient you to their methods. Look into
“doc/index.html” in the zip you downloaded for the javadocs. In other words,
BEFORE YOU START, familiarize yourself with the classes, specifically the Maze
and Hexagon classes. Be sure to read the description of the class near the top
of the page and the available methods provided by the class.
Each Hexagon tile can be one of a Wall (black), Start (green), End (yellow) or
Unvisited (cyan) when we build the maze at the beginning, and as we visit
tiles during they solving process, they can become Pushed (blue) or popped
(light gray). The tiles will display in different colours so you can track
your MazeSolver progress. The start tile will turn pink when it is processed
and the end tile will turn red when it is found (processed).
High Level Algorithm for MazeSolver:
- Create maze object
- Try to open maze file
- Reference starting Hexagon from the maze
- Create Stack and push starting Hexagon
- Make sure bookkeeping variables are created (stepCounter and hexagonOnStack counter)
- While stack is not empty
- Pop
- Increase step counter, decrease hex counter
- If Hexagon is end tile, we need to do special stuff
- Otherwise
- For each of the six possible neighbours of current Hexagon
- If neighbour exists, is not a wall, was not visited
- Push neighbor on the stack and do bookkeeping (counters)
- If neighbour exists, is not a wall, was not visited
- For each of the six possible neighbours of current Hexagon
- Set current Hexagon as processed
- Update maze window with repaint()
- Once we are done
- Say if we found the end
- Number of steps that it took to finish
- Number of tiles still on the stack
Analysis
You must run your code on all 5, however, you will notice that maze1 and maze3
have interesting things happening. Write a brief description in a separate
.txt file describing the peculiarities in these three mazes. This can be in
point form, and very brief, however it does need to be
readable/understandable.
Exceptions
Your code must correctly handle thrown exceptions. To handle the exceptions
you need only to inform the user through a console print statement what
specifically has happened. These handlers must be specific (rather than one
catch block for Exception itself).
Command Line Argument
You must read the Maze file from the command line. The command line is what
computers used to use to run programs rather than having graphical windows,
and all systems still have the functionality available (like through the
Terminal application on Macs, or the Command Prompt (cmd) application on
Windows). The user could run the MazeSolver program with the following command
from a command line (for example): java MazeSolver maze1.txt
If you have ever wondered what the String[] args
thing meant in the main
method header, this is what it is for; It allows us to read in the text
supplied on the command line. The args array of Strings will store any of the
text supplied by the user, that is, any tokens following the application name
(MazeSolver in the above example).
To read a single argument, we look in args[0]
, but first we want to check
that the user has entered something. The following code example could be the
beginning of your MazeSolver.java file. It will check the length of the args
array and thrown an exception if there is not an argument provided. Then it
will store a reference to the String using the reference variable
mazeFileName.
public class MazeSolver {
public static void main (String[] args) {
try {
if (args.length < 1) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException(“No Maze Provided”);
}
String mazeFileName = args[0];
//…
—|—
To submit
- MazeSolver.java (It must be the .java; Do not submit the .class file)
- A .txt file with your brief analysis for maze1 and maze3.
FAQ
- Q: I don’t know where to start.
- A: Did you read the whole assignment details?
- Q: I still don’t know where to start.
- A: Go over the high level description of the algorithm. It really does into the details of solving the problem. You should also make sure you’re comfortable with the provided classes - read the documentation provided.
- Q: Does my .txt give enough details?
- A: Probably, it’s supposed to be brief.
- Q: Should I comment X?
- A: Probably.
- Q: There is a bug in my code!
- A: Look at the debugging lecture slides. There are a lot of tips in there.
- Q: Did I catch enough exceptions?
- A: No idea. Keep trying to figure out how to break your code. Make sure you have at least 4 being dealt with.
- Q: Can I change the specifications, even if it’s to make it ‘better’?
- A: NO! Not even if you invent the best maze solver in the world.
- Q: When catching exceptions, does order matter?
- A: Yes, it does actually. Remember subclasses are also the same type of parent classes.
- Q: I swear I did everything right, but for some reason my files won’t open!
- A: This isn’t uncommon.
- If you’re using eclipse, try putting the .txt files in the project directory (the same folder containing the bin folder, src folder.
- If you’re running from command line, try putting the files in the src folder.
- A: This isn’t uncommon.
- Q: I don’t know how to do X?
- A: Try going to my favorite website: www.google.ca and then typing X into the big text box.
- Q: Can I email the TA or professor with questions?
- A: Yes, but you should really check out my favorite website (above).