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Mazes for Programmers

Name: Mazes for Programmers
Price: 59 USD
Author: The Pragmatic Programmers

Gain insights into maze generation, applying software engineering to create diverse mazes in various shapes and dimensions. Discover inspiration to overcome programmer’s block and burnout.

120 lessons

35h

Created by The Pragmatic Programmers

What's included

120 lessons across 15 modules
14 quizzes with instant feedback
AI Tutor on every lesson

Join 3.1 million developers at

What You'll Learn

An understanding of the usefulness of mazes to generate interesting puzzles
Hands-on experience designing algorithms and programs to solve different puzzles
Familiarity with different types of mazes including grids and circular, weaving, and folding mazes
Hands-on experience creating different mazes and solving them using a variety of algorithms
Ability to traverse mazes, render mazes, and exploit well-known graph theoretic algorithms to solve underlying problems in mazes

Learning Roadmap

120 Lessons14 Quizzes2 Challenges

Our First Random Mazes

Learn how to use algorithms for creating diverse mazes, emphasizing practical coding in Ruby.

Who Should Take This Course and Why?

Getting Started

Preparing the Grid

The Binary Tree Algorithm

Digging Deeper into the Binary Tree Algorithm

The Sidewinder Algorithm

Quiz Yourself on Random Mazes Algorithms

Exercise: Upside-down Sidewinder

Automating and Displaying our Mazes

Walk through automating maze grids, generating with algorithms, and rendering for visual representation.

Introducing Our Basic Grid

Implementing the Grid Class

Implementing the Binary Tree Algorithm

Displaying a Maze on the Console

Implementing the Sidewinder Algorithm

Rendering a Maze as an Image

Quiz Yourself on Automating and Displaying Mazes

Exercise: Interactive Fiction Display

Solution: Interactive Fiction Display

Solving Mazes

10 Lessons

Work your way through solving and visualizing mazes using Dijkstra's algorithm and enhanced coloring techniques.

Avoiding Bias with Random Walks

8 Lessons

Grasp the fundamentals of unbiased maze generation using random walk algorithms and optimization techniques.

Adding Constraints to Random Walks

8 Lessons

Map out maze generation via two algorithms, Hunt-and-Kill and Recursive Backtracker, balancing dead ends and paths.

Fitting Mazes to Shapes

7 Lessons

Tackle maze masking techniques including class implementations, ASCII and image masks, and geometric mask exercises.

Going in Circles

8 Lessons

Build on polar grids to craft visually appealing, adaptive, and structured circular mazes.

Exploring Other Grids

9 Lessons

Get familiar with alternative grid types by implementing and displaying hex, triangle, and zeta mazes.

Braiding and Weaving Our Mazes

11 Lessons

Get started with designing versatile mazes using braiding, weaving techniques, and cost-aware pathfinding.

10.

Improving Our Weaving

7 Lessons

Master the steps to generate well-structured, predictable weave mazes using Kruskal's algorithm.

11.

Growing With Prim's

7 Lessons

Grasp the fundamentals of Prim's algorithm and its maze generation applications.

12.

Combining, Dividing

8 Lessons

Dig deeper into advanced maze algorithms, including Eller's, Recursive Division, and a unique Aldous-Broder application.

13.

Extending Mazes into Higher Dimensions

8 Lessons

Tackle higher-dimensional maze creation, from transitioning 2D to 3D, visualizing, and implementing complex grid structures.

14.

Bending and Folding Our Mazes

10 Lessons

Build on various 3D maze structures like cylinders, Möbius strips, cubes, and spheres.

15.

Conclusion

2 Lessons

Learn how to use maze algorithms and advanced maze generation techniques in Ruby.

Certificate of Completion

Showcase your accomplishment by sharing your certificate of completion.

About this course

WHY I WROTE THIS COURSE

Mazes are everywhere. From psychology experiments involving mice to robotics demonstrations to movies, video games, books, and puzzles, we all encounter mazes at some point or other in our lives. Working with mazes is like going on a voyage of discovery where you never know quite what you’ll find when you crest the next hill. In this course, you’re going to look at ideas to inspire you and learn to generate your own mazes. After taking this course, you’ll have taken your existing knowledge of software engineering and applied it to generating puzzles in a variety of shapes and sizes. You’ll make mazes out of squares, circles, triangles, hexagons, cylinders and cubes, spheres, and even Möbius strips. You’ll stretch them into other dimensions, squeeze them into arbitrary outlines, weave them, braid them, print them, and fold them. You will discover yourself brimming with ideas and hopefully find inspiration to tackle the programmer’s block, burnout, and gray days.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Pragmatic Programmers

We create timely, practical books and learning resources on classic and cutting-edge topics to help you practice your craft and accelerate your career.

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