advent-of-code/2022/12/index2.js

const fs = require('fs/promises');

const sum = (arr) => arr.reduce((total, num) => total+num, 0);
const arrayOfLength = n => Array.from(Array(n).keys()).map(() => {});

const main = async () => {
  const input = (await fs.readFile("./input.txt", 'utf8')).split("\n").map(x => x.split("").map(x => x.charCodeAt(0)));
  const start = input.reduce((found, row, i) => {
    if(found) return found;

    const j = row.indexOf(83);
    if(j !== -1) {
      return [j, i];
    }

  }, undefined);

  let minPath = Infinity;
  const maxY = input.length;
  const maxX = input[0].length;

  //Wrapped most of the context into a function that could be called over and
  //over to try again from differnt points
  const exploreMapFrom = (start) => {

    const visited = arrayOfLength(maxY).map(_ => arrayOfLength(maxX));
    const shortestPaths = arrayOfLength(maxY).map(_ => arrayOfLength(maxX).map(_ => Infinity));


    // Added this print function so I could watch an algorithm to see how
    // quickly it was progressing.  The final algorithm ended up being so quick
    // that this can't even render it properly

    let nextPrint = 0;

    const print = () => {
      if(Date.now() > nextPrint) {
        process.stdout.write('\u001b[2J');
        process.stdout.write('\u001b[;H');
        console.log(visited.map(row => row.map(x => x ? "X": ".").join("")).join("\n"));
        console.log("\n\n\n")
        console.log("Paths found: ", minPath);
        nextPrint = Date.now() + 10;
      }
    };

    const canVisit = ([fx,fy], [tx,ty]) => {
      // Don't go off the map
      if(Math.min(tx, ty) < 0 || tx >= maxX  || ty >= maxY) {
        return false;
      }

      // Don't visit squares we've already visited.
      if(visited[ty][tx]) {
        return false;
      }

      // S = a and E = z
      let fz = input[fy][fx] === 83 ? 97 : input[fy][fx];
      let tz = input[ty][tx] === 69 ? 122 : input[ty][tx];

      // No climbing gear allowed
      return tz <= fz + 1;
    }

    const explore = (visited, loc, stepCount) => {
      const [x, y] = loc;

      //If we've already found a solution that is shorter than the path so far,
      //there is no reason to continue
      if(stepCount >= minPath) {
        return false;
      }

      //If we've alreayd found a shorter path to this square then there is no
      //sense in trying a longer path.  This ended up shortening the time by
      //alot.
      if(stepCount >= shortestPaths[y][x]) {
        return false;
      } else {
        shortestPaths[y][x] = stepCount;
      }

      //Print the rendering that is actually usesless once I found the solution
      print();
      if(input[y][x] === 69) {
        minPath = Math.min(minPath, stepCount);
        return true;
      }

      //Track what has been visited on the current path
      visited[y][x] = true

      const nextSteps = [[x + 1, y],[x, y + 1],[x, y - 1],[x - 1, y]];

      //Try each direction
      const found = nextSteps.map(nextStep => {
        if(canVisit(loc, nextStep)) {
          return explore(visited, nextStep, stepCount + 1);
        }
        return false
      });

      //Mark this one as no longer visited so we can try it again on another path.
      visited[y][x] = false;
      return false;
    }

    //start exploring
    explore(visited, start, 0);
  }
  // Try starting from "S"
  exploreMapFrom(start);

  //Try starting from all the "a"s
  for(let x = 0; x < maxX; ++x) {
    for(let y = 0; y < maxY; ++y) {
      if(input[y][x] === 97) {
        exploreMapFrom([x, y]);
      }
    }
  }

  console.log(minPath);
}

main();