26、A* Algorithm: An In-depth Guide to Optimal Pathfinding

A* Algorithm: An In-depth Guide to Optimal Pathfinding

1. Introduction to A* Algorithm

A (pronounced “A star”) is a powerful algorithm widely used for pathfinding and graph traversal. It combines the advantages of both uniform-cost search and greedy best-first search, ensuring efficient exploration of the search space while guaranteeing optimal solutions. A achieves this by expanding the most promising node first and ordering the nodes on the open list according to a heuristic.

Key Concepts

• Open List : A priority queue containing nodes yet to be explored. Nodes are ordered by their estimated total cost, combining the actual cost from the start node and the heuristic estimate to the goal.