I created this Pathfinding Visualizer for students in Cal Poly SLO’s CSC 349: Design and Analysis of Algorithms course while working as a Teaching Assistant. The goal was to help students better understand how different pathfinding algorithms work through an engaging and visual learning experience.

The project allows users to specify start and end points on a grid, place obstacles, and choose from algorithms such as Dijkstra’s Algorithm, A*, Breadth-First Search (BFS), Depth-First Search (DFS), Theta*, and Jump Point Search (JPS). Each algorithm is visualized step-by-step, showing how it explores the grid and finds the optimal path.

Users can also generate random mazes, adjust visualization speed, and experiment with different configurations to see how each algorithm behaves under varying conditions. As the search progresses, the tool highlights visited nodes, frontier nodes, and the final shortest path, making the algorithm’s decision-making process easy to follow in real time.

Built entirely in Java, this project combines algorithmic logic, user interface design, and interactive visualization to create an educational tool that bridges theory and practice. It continues to serve as a hands-on way for students to experiment with graph traversal techniques and gain a deeper appreciation for algorithm efficiency and complexity.