158. OCR A Level (H446) SLR26 – 2.3 A star pathfinding

About this video

OCR Specification Reference
A Level 2.3.1f

The A* pathfinding algorithm is a specialised form of Dijkstra's algorithm which is covered in another video. It is used to find the shortest route between two nodes of a weighted graph.

Key questions:

- Can you explain the importance of heuristics in the A* pathfinding algorithm?
- What do we mean by an admissible heuristic?
- Do you understand how the A* pathfinding algorithm works and can you trace its code to explain how it works?

00:00 Implementing A* pathfinding
00:07 Intro
00:12 Checklist
00:34 A note about this video
00:44 What is the A* pathfinding algorithm?
01:49 Applications of the A* pathfinding algorithm
02:20 About heuristics
07:29 Worked example
18:42 The A* pathfinding algorithm in simple-structured English
19:14 A* pathfinding algorithm pseudocode
19:58 Final thoughts
20:06 Keeping track of visited nodes/vertices
20:54 Key questions
21:18 Essential algorithms for A Level Computer Science text book
22:22 Outro

Last updated: 28.07.26

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