I created the cargo project and consulted with ChatGPT as to how I could implement a CLI argument parsing, it gave me Clap, I read the documentation myself and implemented a hello world and began splitting each separate command into it’s own rust file for a nice code layout later down the line.

• Fix dijkstra, because it was broken and I didn’t realise until I was taking screenshots.
• Fix a little issue with the entryWindow
• The algorithms now have their path returned to a string that is displayed on the screen, instead of just printing to stdout.

Massive update

• I have made my own buttons!
• I have made my own entry boxes!
• The buttons now run a function that handles running the graph editing functions.
• I learned how to make my own enumeration, I use it to handle which text to display in the entryWindow
• Changed the GitHub workflow to zip the executable with the font file that I use to allow for a single download.

I have now implemented button clicking logic. In this video I only have functionality hooked up to the exit button, but soon I’ll have the traversal algorithms re-implemented and connected to the buttons.

I designed the layout of how I want the buttons to look, and I implemented them. I have a function that creates a vector of buttons by reading their coordinates and labels from 2 other vectors. Then I have another function that takes the list of buttons and renders them to the screen automatically.

So, I have spent nearly 2 hours wrestling with CMake trying to get SFML to compile with a library that would give me nice buttons to use straight out of the box. However, I failed 3 time with 3 different libraries, so I think that I will just make them myself. It definitely wasn’t worth spending all of this wasted time. But I have made some general improvements too, did a bunch of commenting, made an area for the buttons to eventually be in. (for context, these buttons will run the algorithms eventually.)

You can now drag the nodes around to rearrange their positions. I also reduce the repulsive force between the nodes while dragging them around so that its easier to make cool formations!!!

I have now added the weights of the edges (connections) as text labels. I calculate the midpoint along the vertex (drawn line) by adding the vector (points) of the edge together and dividing by 2 - I effectively just calculate the average of the two coordinates, and place the text there. I have now also added circles to where the nodes are. I just place the circle on the node coordinate.

So, I now have the graph’s edges showing in a GUI. I asked Claude to tell me how I could implement having the graph in a fluid and natural way; it told me to use force-directed placement which makes the nodes repel each other like magnets, and the edges act like springs pulling it back together. The physics of it are really nice!

I have installed a new library called SFML - Simple and Fast Media Library. I chose this library because a Reddit thread suggested that it is quite similar to PyGame which from a quick glance at the documentation, it does. And after 15 mins of trying to get a Noto Sans font file load, I now have a Hello World window!

I have now added a README, some sweet ascii art to the program and the README, and the breadth first search algorithm!

I have now implemented a depth first search algorithm into my application! I had an issue where the program would segfault when I ran it. Turns out I missed that I was creating a vector of integers and then treating them like a vector of booleans :p

While I was making that algorithm, I made this nice simple CLI that users can now use to interact with the graph simulation. I have made a nice printMenu() function that means that I don’t have a big print statement clogging up my main function. Also there is a BFS (breadth-first search) option, but that will be implemented next!

My Dijkstra’s algorithm now works nicely! The next item on the agenda will be a nice CLI to allow users to easily add to/remove from and modify the graph and select which algorithms they’d like to run

I now have my own Stack, Queue and Priority Queue classes. I use inheritance on the priority queue class, as it is almost the exact same as the normal queue class, except for pushing, as it makes sure that all of the elements are ordered correctly. There is no output for these yet, however my graph class works, and I have made a method that prints the graph to show you guys!