Please be ready to begin at 18:00! Complimentary refreshments and sandwiches will be served during the break.

Synopsis

Learn about pathfinding algorithms, put them into practice and try not to get eaten by a minotaur.

Description

Finding the shortest path through a connected graph is a complex problem, and one which has a number of very useful applications. Thankfully there are some efficient algorithms out there which solve it well. The first part of the session will take you through some basic theory and how the A-Star algorithm works.

In the second part, you will then put your newly-found pathfinding skills to the test! We'll run a tournament for the remaining hour and a bit, using a robot tournament engine. You'll be able to write a robot in any language, which will be one of two characters in a maze, and the idea is to find the exit as soon as possible without being eaten by the minotaur that roams randomly around it.

Biography

Chris Parsons describes himself as an itinerant agilist, programmer, writer and trainer.

"I consult in technical architecture and agile, and I train and coach teams internationally in agile, BDD, automated, testing, clean code and great team practices. I train publicly at BDD Kickstart and currently spend a lot of time writing the indie video game Sol Trader.

I have spoken on Ruby, Cucumber, being agile, code quality and programmer education at conferences including Rubyconf, the Scottish Ruby Conference, AOTB, NDC, Software Craftsmanship North America and Software Craftsmanship UK".