General `findPath` function

[adamjanicki2]

One of our use cases is a general findPath function, so I wanted to make an issue to discuss design before diving into implementing it. My thoughts are it should be a function like follows

function findPath(start, end) { ... }

which returns a path of type Array<string | number> to get from start to end. The function should attempt to use parent pointers to climb from end to start, but do a BFS/DFS if no parents are set. Before implementing this, we will need to resolve #26 because in a situation like this where parents aren't necessary but helpful, it would be nice to do a console.warn about it (see end of #26)

[LeaVerou]

I don't think #26 is a blocker. But if this function ends up walking, it should definitely set parent pointers as it goes!

[LeaVerou]

One issue is: you'd expect this function to stop once it finds the requested node. But currently, we assume that if a node has a parent pointer, its descendants also have parent pointers.

[adamjanicki2]

One issue is: you'd expect this function to stop once it finds the requested node. But currently, we assume that if a node has a parent pointer, its descendants also have parent pointers.

Yeah, maybe we should wait on setting parent pointers here

[LeaVerou]

Not sure. When we really care we do tend to use force. Maybe we should invert force and make it be the default behavior of updateParents().

[karger]

I am unclear on the usage of this function so can't assess the design

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On Mar 25, 2024, 8:42 PM, at 8:42 PM, Lea Verou ***@***.***> wrote: Not sure. When we *really* care we do tend to use `force`. Maybe we should invert `force` and make it be the default behavior of `updateParents()`. -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #27 (comment) You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Message ID: ***@***.***>