A Star Pathfinding Algorithm

Introduction

Pathfinding is essential in many applications, from game development to logistics. A* (A-star) is one of the most efficient algorithms for finding the shortest path in grid-based environments, such as navigating a maze or finding the quickest route on a map. Combining the strengths of Dijkstra’s algorithm and greedy best-first search, A* is fast yet accurate, making it a popular choice for pathfinding tasks.

In this guide, we’ll walk through implementing A* in Rust, using Rust’s unique ownership model to handle node exploration and backtracking. We’ll also take advantage of data structures like priority queues and hash maps to keep the algorithm efficient and Rust-safe.

Core Concepts and Data Structures

Priority Queue

A* relies on a priority queue to process nodes in the order of their path cost. In Rust, the BinaryHeap structure provides a simple and efficient way to prioritize nodes based on their cost to reach the destination.

Hash Map

We’ll use a HashMap to keep track of the best cost found for each node. This allows for quick updates and retrievals as we explore different paths in the grid.

Grid Representation

For simplicity, we’ll represent our grid as a 2D array, with each element holding a Node. A Node will store information about its coordinates and path costs, including the estimated cost to reach the target.

Ownership and Memory Management in Rust

Rust’s ownership model helps us manage memory safely while exploring nodes. For example, as we create references to neighboring nodes and update paths, Rust’s borrowing rules ensure we don’t accidentally create dangling pointers or memory leaks.

For shared ownership, we can use Rc (reference counting) and RefCell to allow multiple nodes to reference each other safely, making Rust both safe and efficient.

Implementation

Setup

First, let’s define the main components of our grid and the A* algorithm.

use std::collections::{BinaryHeap, HashMap};
use std::cmp::Ordering;

// Define a simple Node structure
#[derive(Copy, Clone, Eq, PartialEq)]
struct Node {
    position: (i32, i32),
    g_cost: i32,  // Cost from start to current node
    h_cost: i32,  // Heuristic cost from current to target node
}

impl Node {
    fn f_cost(&self) -> i32 {
        self.g_cost + self.h_cost
    }
}

// Implement Ord and PartialOrd to use Node in a priority queue
impl Ord for Node {
    fn cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Ordering {
        other.f_cost().cmp(&self.f_cost()) // Reverse for min-heap behavior
    }
}

impl PartialOrd for Node {
    fn partial_cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Option<Ordering> {
        Some(self.cmp(other))
    }
}

Initialize the Grid and Heuristic Function

A simple heuristic we’ll use here is the Manhattan distance, suitable for grids where movement is limited to horizontal and vertical steps.

fn heuristic(start: (i32, i32), target: (i32, i32)) -> i32 {
    (start.0 - target.0).abs() + (start.1 - target.1).abs()
}

Pathfinding Function

Here’s the core of the A* algorithm. We’ll initialize the grid, process nodes, and backtrack to find the shortest path.

fn astar(start: (i32, i32), target: (i32, i32), grid_size: (i32, i32)) -> Option<Vec<(i32, i32)>> {
    let mut open_set = BinaryHeap::new();
    let mut came_from = HashMap::new();
    let mut g_costs = HashMap::new();

    open_set.push(Node { position: start, g_cost: 0, h_cost: heuristic(start, target) });
    g_costs.insert(start, 0);

    while let Some(current) = open_set.pop() {
        if current.position == target {
            return Some(reconstruct_path(came_from, current.position));
        }

        for neighbor in get_neighbors(current.position, grid_size) {
            let tentative_g_cost = g_costs[&current.position] + 1;

            if tentative_g_cost < *g_costs.get(&neighbor).unwrap_or(&i32::MAX) {
                came_from.insert(neighbor, current.position);
                g_costs.insert(neighbor, tentative_g_cost);
                open_set.push(Node {
                    position: neighbor,
                    g_cost: tentative_g_cost,
                    h_cost: heuristic(neighbor, target),
                });
            }
        }
    }
    None
}

fn get_neighbors(position: (i32, i32), grid_size: (i32, i32)) -> Vec<(i32, i32)> {
    let (x, y) = position;
    let mut neighbors = Vec::new();
    for (dx, dy) in &[(0, 1), (1, 0), (0, -1), (-1, 0)] {
        let nx = x + dx;
        let ny = y + dy;
        if nx >= 0 && nx < grid_size.0 && ny >= 0 && ny < grid_size.1 {
            neighbors.push((nx, ny));
        }
    }
    neighbors
}

fn reconstruct_path(came_from: HashMap<(i32, i32), (i32, i32)>, mut current: (i32, i32)) -> Vec<(i32, i32)> {
    let mut path = Vec::new();
    while let Some(&prev) = came_from.get(&current) {
        path.push(current);
        current = prev;
    }
    path.reverse();
    path
}

Explanation

1. Initialization: We add the start node to the open_set with an initial g_cost of 0.
2. Exploration: We pop nodes from open_set, starting with the lowest f_cost. If a neighbor has a lower g_cost (cost so far) than previously recorded, we update its cost and re-insert it into open_set.
3. Backtracking: Once we reach the target, we backtrack through the came_from map to reconstruct the path.

Running the A* Algorithm

Finally, let’s run the algorithm to see the path from a start to target position:

fn main() {
    let start = (0, 0);
    let target = (4, 5);
    let grid_size = (10, 10);

    match astar(start, target, grid_size) {
        Some(path) => {
            println!("Path found: {:?}", path);
        }
        None => {
            println!("No path found");
        }
    }
}

Output

This will display the sequence of nodes from start to target, giving us the shortest path using the A* algorithm.

We can restructure these functions to also add visual representations on screen.

use std::collections::{BinaryHeap, HashMap};
use std::{cmp::Ordering, thread, time::Duration};

// Define symbols for visualization
const EMPTY: char = '.';
const START: char = 'S';
const TARGET: char = 'T';
const OPEN: char = '+';
const CLOSED: char = '#';
const PATH: char = '*';

#[derive(Copy, Clone, Eq, PartialEq)]
struct Node {
    position: (i32, i32),
    g_cost: i32,
    h_cost: i32,
}

impl Node {
    fn f_cost(&self) -> i32 {
        self.g_cost + self.h_cost
    }
}

impl Ord for Node {
    fn cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Ordering {
        other.f_cost().cmp(&self.f_cost())
    }
}

impl PartialOrd for Node {
    fn partial_cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Option<Ordering> {
        Some(self.cmp(other))
    }
}

fn heuristic(start: (i32, i32), target: (i32, i32)) -> i32 {
    (start.0 - target.0).abs() + (start.1 - target.1).abs()
}

fn astar(start: (i32, i32), target: (i32, i32), grid_size: (i32, i32)) -> Option<Vec<(i32, i32)>> {
    let mut open_set = BinaryHeap::new();
    let mut came_from = HashMap::new();
    let mut g_costs = HashMap::new();
    let mut closed_set = Vec::new();

    open_set.push(Node { position: start, g_cost: 0, h_cost: heuristic(start, target) });
    g_costs.insert(start, 0);

    // Initial grid setup
    let mut grid = vec![vec![EMPTY; grid_size.1 as usize]; grid_size.0 as usize];
    grid[start.0 as usize][start.1 as usize] = START;
    grid[target.0 as usize][target.1 as usize] = TARGET;

    // Display progress with each iteration
    while let Some(current) = open_set.pop() {
        if current.position == target {
            return Some(reconstruct_path(came_from, current.position, &mut grid, start, target));
        }
        
        closed_set.push(current.position);
        grid[current.position.0 as usize][current.position.1 as usize] = CLOSED;
        display_grid(&grid);
        thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(100)); // Slow down for visualization

        for neighbor in get_neighbors(current.position, grid_size) {
            let tentative_g_cost = g_costs[&current.position] + 1;
            if tentative_g_cost < *g_costs.get(&neighbor).unwrap_or(&i32::MAX) {
                came_from.insert(neighbor, current.position);
                g_costs.insert(neighbor, tentative_g_cost);

                grid[neighbor.0 as usize][neighbor.1 as usize] = OPEN;
                open_set.push(Node {
                    position: neighbor,
                    g_cost: tentative_g_cost,
                    h_cost: heuristic(neighbor, target),
                });
            }
        }
    }
    None
}

fn get_neighbors(position: (i32, i32), grid_size: (i32, i32)) -> Vec<(i32, i32)> {
    let (x, y) = position;
    let mut neighbors = Vec::new();
    for (dx, dy) in &[(0, 1), (1, 0), (0, -1), (-1, 0)] {
        let nx = x + dx;
        let ny = y + dy;
        if nx >= 0 && nx < grid_size.0 && ny >= 0 && ny < grid_size.1 {
            neighbors.push((nx, ny));
        }
    }
    neighbors
}

fn reconstruct_path(
    came_from: HashMap<(i32, i32), (i32, i32)>, 
    mut current: (i32, i32), 
    grid: &mut Vec<Vec<char>>, 
    start: (i32, i32), 
    target: (i32, i32)
) -> Vec<(i32, i32)> {
    let mut path = Vec::new();
    while let Some(&prev) = came_from.get(&current) {
        path.push(current);
        current = prev;
    }
    path.reverse();

    for &(x, y) in &path {
        grid[x as usize][y as usize] = PATH;
    }
    grid[start.0 as usize][start.1 as usize] = START;
    grid[target.0 as usize][target.1 as usize] = TARGET;
    display_grid(&grid);

    path
}

fn display_grid(grid: &Vec<Vec<char>>) {
    println!("\x1B[2J\x1B[1;1H"); // Clear the screen
    for row in grid {
        for cell in row {
            print!("{} ", cell);
        }
        println!();
    }
}

fn main() {
    let start = (0, 0);
    let target = (7, 9);
    let grid_size = (10, 10);

    match astar(start, target, grid_size) {
        Some(path) => {
            println!("Path found: {:?}", path);
        }
        None => {
            println!("No path found");
        }
    }
}

Explanation

• display_grid: This function clears the screen and then prints the current state of the grid to visualize the progress.
• Thread Sleep: A short delay is added to slow down the iteration for visual effect. You can adjust Duration::from_millis(100) to control the speed.
• Symbols:
  • . (OPEN): Nodes being considered.
  • # (CLOSED): Nodes already explored.
  • * (PATH): Final path from start to target.

After running this code, you should see the path being solved from one point to another:

S * * * + . . . . . 
# # # * + . . . . . 
# # # * * + . . . . 
+ # # # * + . . . . 
+ # # # * + . . . . 
. + # # * T . . . . 
. . + + + . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . . . 
Path found: [(0, 1), (0, 2), (0, 3), (1, 3), (2, 3), (2, 4), (3, 4), (4, 4), (5, 4), (5, 5)]

Conclusion

The A* algorithm can be optimized by tuning the heuristic function. In Rust, using BinaryHeap and HashMap helps manage the exploration process efficiently, and Rust’s ownership model enforces safe memory practices.

A* in Rust is an excellent example of how the language’s unique features can be leveraged to implement classic algorithms effectively. Rust’s focus on memory safety and efficient abstractions makes it a strong candidate for implementing pathfinding and other performance-sensitive tasks.

The Producer-Consumer Pattern

Introduction

Concurrency can feel tricky to manage, especially in a language like Rust where memory safety is strictly enforced. The Producer-Consumer pattern, however, provides a clean way to manage workloads between multiple threads, ensuring data is processed as it’s produced. In this post, we’ll explore this pattern by building a prime number checker in Rust. We’ll use a producer to generate candidate numbers and several consumers to check each candidate’s primality.

By the end of this post, you’ll understand how to manage shared data between threads, use an atomic flag for graceful termination, and leverage Rust’s concurrency tools.

The Producer-Consumer Pattern

In the Producer-Consumer pattern, one or more producers generate data and place it in a shared buffer. Consumers then take this data from the buffer and process it. This pattern is great for tasks that can be distributed, as it allows producers and consumers to run concurrently without overwhelming the system.

In our example, the producer is a main thread that generates numbers for prime-checking, while the consumers are threads that take these numbers and determine if they are prime. Here’s what we’ll build:

1. A producer (main thread) to generate candidate numbers.
2. A shared buffer where the candidates are stored.
3. Consumers (worker threads) that retrieve numbers from the buffer and check their primality.
4. An atomic stop flag to catch SIGINT (Ctrl+C) and cleanly stop the program.

Code Overview

Let’s break down the code section by section.

Setting Up Shared State

First, we need to set up the shared data structures for our threads. Rust provides a few useful tools for this: Arc, Mutex, and AtomicBool.

• Arc<T> (Atomic Reference Counting) allows us to share ownership of data between threads.
• Mutex<T> protects shared data, ensuring only one thread can access it at a time.
• AtomicBool is a thread-safe boolean that can be modified atomically, which we’ll use to signal our threads when it’s time to stop.

use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex, atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering}};
use std::thread;
use std::time::Duration;
use ctrlc;

fn main() {
    // small primes for checking divisibility
    let primes = vec![2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17]; 
    
    // shared buffer with Mutex and Arc
    let candidates_mutex = Arc::new(Mutex::new(vec![])); 
    
    // this is our kill switch
    let stop_flag = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
    
    // here's where we're currently up to in the candidate check
    let mut current = 20;

Here, candidates_mutex is an Arc<Mutex<Vec<u32>>> — an atomic reference-counted mutex around a vector of candidate numbers. By wrapping our vector with Mutex, we ensure that only one thread can modify the buffer at any time, preventing race conditions.

The stop_flag is an AtomicBool, which will allow us to signal when it’s time for all threads to stop processing. We’ll look at how to use this flag in the section on handling SIGINT.

Stopping Gracefully

When running a multi-threaded application, it’s essential to handle termination gracefully. Here, we’ll use the ctrlc crate to catch the SIGINT signal (triggered by Ctrl+C) and set stop_flag to true to signal all threads to stop.

    let stop_flag_clone = stop_flag.clone();
    ctrlc::set_handler(move || {
        stop_flag_clone.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
        println!("Received SIGINT, stopping . . . ");
    }).expect("Error setting Ctrl-C handler");

The store function sets the value of stop_flag to true, and we use Ordering::SeqCst to ensure all threads see the change immediately. This will stop all consumers from further processing once they check the flag.

Creating the Consumer Threads

Now that we have a stop flag and a shared buffer, we can create our consumer threads. Each consumer thread will:

1. Check the stop_flag.
2. Attempt to retrieve a candidate number from candidates_mutex.
3. Check if the candidate is prime.

Here’s the code:

let handles: Vec<_> = (0..3)
    .map(|_| {
        // clone all of our concurrent structures for each thread
        let candidates_mutex = Arc::clone(&candidates_mutex);
        let primes = primes.clone();
        let stop_flag_clone = stop_flag.clone();

        thread::spawn(move || {
            // we make sure that we're still "running"
            while !stop_flag_clone.load(Ordering::SeqCst) {
                
                let candidate = {
                    // lock the mutex to get a candidate number
                    let mut candidates = candidates_mutex.lock().unwrap();
                    candidates.pop()
                };

                // check that a candidate was available
                if let Some(num) = candidate {
                    
                    // perform a primality check (basic division check for illustration)
                    let is_prime = primes.iter().all(|&p| num % p != 0 || num == p);

                    if is_prime {
                        println!("{} is prime", num);
                    } else {
                        println!("{} is not prime", num);
                    }

                } else {
                    // If no candidates are available, wait a moment before retrying
                    thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(10));
                }
            }
        })
    })
    .collect();

Explanation

• Each consumer thread runs a loop, checking the stop_flag using the .load(Ordering::SeqCst) function on AtomicBool. This function reads the current value of stop_flag, and with Ordering::SeqCst, we ensure that all threads see consistent updates.
• Inside the loop, the thread locks the candidates_mutex to safely access candidates.
• If a candidate is available, the thread checks its primality using modulus operations. If no candidate is available, it sleeps briefly before trying again, minimizing CPU usage.

Why .clone()?

You’ll notice at the start of the thread’s execution, we setup a group of clones to work with.

If you’re new to Rust, you might wonder why we need to clone our Arc references when passing them to threads. In many languages, you can freely share references between threads without much consideration. Rust, however, has strict rules about data ownership and thread safety, which is why cloning Arcs becomes essential.

Rust’s Ownership Model and Shared Data

Rust enforces a strong ownership model to prevent data races, requiring that only one thread can “own” any piece of data at a time. This rule ensures that data cannot be modified simultaneously by multiple threads, which could lead to unpredictable behavior and bugs.

However, our prime-checker example needs multiple threads to access shared data (the list of candidates), which would normally violate Rust’s ownership rules. To make this possible, we use Arc and Mutex:

1. Arc<T>: Atomic Reference Counting for Shared Ownership

Arc stands for Atomic Reference Counted, and it enables multiple threads to safely share ownership of the same data. Unlike a regular reference, Arc keeps a reference count, incremented each time you “clone” it. When the reference count drops to zero, Rust automatically deallocates the data.

Each clone of an Arc doesn’t copy the data itself; it only adds a new reference, allowing multiple threads to safely access the same data.

1. Mutex<T>: Ensuring Safe Access

Wrapping the shared data (in this case, our vector of candidates) in a Mutex allows threads to lock the data for exclusive access, preventing simultaneous modifications. The combination of Arc and Mutex gives us shared, safe, and controlled access to the data across threads.

Why Clone and Not Move?

You might wonder why we don’t simply “move” the Arc into each thread. Moving the Arc would transfer ownership to a single thread, leaving it inaccessible to other threads. Cloning allows us to create additional references to the same Arc, giving each thread access without compromising Rust’s ownership and thread-safety guarantees.

In essence, cloning an Arc doesn’t duplicate the data; it just creates another reference to it. This approach allows multiple threads to access shared data while still adhering to Rust’s safety guarantees.

By using Arc for shared ownership and Mutex for safe, exclusive access, we can implement the Producer-Consumer pattern in Rust without breaking any ownership or thread-safety rules.

Producing Prime Candidates

Now, let’s look at the producer, which is responsible for generating numbers and adding them to the shared buffer. Here’s how it works:

// Main thread generating numbers
loop {
    // if we get the stop flag, we stop producing candidates
    if stop_flag.load(Ordering::SeqCst) {
        println!("Main thread stopping...");
        break;
    }

    {
        // acquire a lock on the candidates vector as we need to push some new candidates on
        let mut candidates = candidates_mutex.lock().unwrap();

        // 4 potential candidates per groups of 10
        candidates.push(current + 1);
        candidates.push(current + 3);
        candidates.push(current + 7);
        candidates.push(current + 9);

        println!("Added candidates, buffer size: {}", candidates.len());
    }

    // move on to the next group of 10
    current += 10;

    // slow down for illustration
    thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(1)); 
}

The producer runs in a loop, checking stop_flag with .load(Ordering::SeqCst) to know when to stop. It then locks candidates_mutex, adds numbers to the buffer, and increments current to generate new candidates.

This part ties back to the Producer-Consumer pattern: while the producer keeps generating numbers, the consumers independently pull them from the shared buffer for prime-checking.

Finishing up

Finally, we ensure a clean exit by calling join on each consumer thread. This function blocks until the thread completes, ensuring all threads finish gracefully.

    // Wait for all threads to finish
    for handle in handles {
        handle.join().unwrap();
    }

    println!("All threads exited. Goodbye!");
}

Conclusion

This project is a great way to explore concurrency in Rust. By applying the Producer-Consumer pattern, we can efficiently manage workloads across threads while ensuring safety with Arc, Mutex, and AtomicBool.

Key takeaways:

• AtomicBool and .load(Ordering::SeqCst): Allow threads to check for a termination signal in a consistent manner.
• Mutex and Arc for Shared Data: Ensures that multiple threads can safely read and write to the same data.
• Producer-Consumer Pattern: A practical way to distribute workloads and ensure efficient resource utilization.
• By catching SIGINT, we also made our program resilient to unexpected terminations, ensuring that threads exit cleanly.

Dining Philosophers

Introduction

The dining philosophers problem is a classic synchronization and concurrency problem in computer science, illustrating the challenges of managing shared resources. In this post, I’ll walk through an implementation of the dining philosophers problem in Rust, explaining each part of the code to show how it tackles potential deadlocks and resource contention.

You can find the full code listing for this article here.

The Problem

Imagine five philosophers seated at a round table.

Between each philosopher is a fork, and to eat, each philosopher needs to hold the fork to their left and the fork to their right.

This setup leads to a potential deadlock if each philosopher picks up their left fork at the same time, preventing any of them from picking up their right fork.

To avoid this deadlock, our implementation uses randomized behavior to increase concurrency and reduce contention for resources.

Solving the Problem

The Philosopher

First of all, we need to define a Philosopher:

struct Philosopher {
    name: String,
    left: Arc<Mutex<i8>>,
    right: Arc<Mutex<i8>>,
    eaten: Arc<Mutex<i32>>
}

• name gives this Philosopher a name on screen
• left and right are the two forks that this Philosopher is allowed to eat with
• eaten is a counter, so we can see if anyone starves!

Arc<Mutex<T>>

left, right, and eaten are all typed with Arc<Mutex<T>>.

We use Arc<Mutex<T>> to share resources safely across threads. Arc (atomic reference counting) allows multiple threads to own the same resource, and Mutex ensures that only one thread can access a resource at a time.

Implementing the Philosopher Struct

We can simplify building one of these structs with a new method:

impl Philosopher {
    fn new(name: &str, left: Arc<Mutex<i8>>, right: Arc<Mutex<i8>>) -> Self {
        Philosopher {
            name: name.to_string(),
            left,
            right,
            eaten: Arc::new(Mutex::new(0)),
        }
    }

Dining

We now want to simulate a Philosopher attempting to eat. This is where the Philosopher tries to acquire the forks needed.

We do this with the dine function.

fn dine(&self) {
    let mut rng = rand::thread_rng();

    loop {
        // Randomize the order in each dining attempt
        let reverse_order = rng.gen_bool(0.5);

Using a random number generator (rng), each philosopher randomly decides in which order to try to pick up forks. This randomness reduces the chances of all philosophers trying to grab the same forks simultaneously.

Finding a Fork

The philosopher selects which fork to pick up first based on the randomized reverse_order.

        let left_first = if reverse_order {
            &self.right
        } else {
            &self.left
        };

        let right_second = if reverse_order {
            &self.left
        } else {
            &self.right
        };

Here, if reverse_order is true, the philosopher picks up the right fork first; otherwise, they pick up the left fork first.

Attempting to Eat

To avoid deadlock, the philosopher only eats if they can successfully lock both forks. If both locks are acquired, they eat, increment their eaten counter, and release the locks after eating.

        if let Ok(_first) = left_first.try_lock() {
            if let Ok(_second) = right_second.try_lock() {
                println!("{} is eating ({})", self.name, *self.eaten.lock().unwrap());

                // Update eating counter
                if let Ok(mut count) = self.eaten.lock() {
                    *count += 1;
                }

                thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(1000));
                println!("{} has finished eating", self.name);
            } else {
                println!("{} couldn't get both forks and is thinking", self.name);
            }
        } else {
            println!("{} couldn't get both forks and is thinking", self.name);
        }

If either lock fails, the philosopher “thinks” (retries later). The use of try_lock ensures that philosophers don’t wait indefinitely for forks, reducing the chance of deadlock.

After eating, a philosopher sleeps for a random time to avoid overlapping lock attempts with other philosophers.

        thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(rng.gen_range(100..500)));
    }
}

Sitting Down to Eat

Now we set the table, and get the Philosophers to sit down.

fn main() {
    let forks: Vec<Arc<Mutex<i8>>> = (0..5)
            .map(|i| Arc::new(Mutex::new(i)))
            .collect();

    let philosophers = vec![
        Philosopher::new("Jane", forks[0].clone(), forks[1].clone()),
        Philosopher::new("Sally", forks[1].clone(), forks[2].clone()),
        Philosopher::new("Margaret", forks[2].clone(), forks[3].clone()),
        Philosopher::new("Kylie", forks[3].clone(), forks[4].clone()),
        Philosopher::new("Marie", forks[4].clone(), forks[0].clone()),
    ];

Each philosopher is created with the forks on their left and right. The Arc wrapper ensures each fork can be safely shared across threads.

    let handles: Vec<_> = philosophers.into_iter().map(|p| {
        thread::spawn(move || {
            p.dine();
        })
    }).collect();

    for handle in handles {
        handle.join().unwrap();
    }
}

Each philosopher’s dine function runs in its own thread, allowing them to operate concurrently. The main thread then waits for all philosopher threads to finish.

Results

Your mileage may vary due to the random number generator, but you can see even distribution between the Philosophers as the simulation runs. For brevity, I stripped all the other messages out of this output.

Jane is eating (0)
Kylie is eating (0)
Marie is eating (0)
Margaret is eating (0)
Kylie is eating (1)
Sally is eating (0)
Jane is eating (1)
Margaret is eating (1)
Sally is eating (1)
Marie is eating (1)
Margaret is eating (2)
Jane is eating (2)
Margaret is eating (3)
Marie is eating (2)
Margaret is eating (4)
Jane is eating (3)
Kylie is eating (2)
Sally is eating (2)

Conclusion

This implementation uses randomized fork-picking order and non-blocking try_lock calls to minimize the risk of deadlock and improve concurrency. Each philosopher tries to acquire forks in different orders and backs off to “think” if they can’t proceed, simulating a real-world attempt to handle resource contention without deadlock.

This approach highlights Rust’s power in building concurrent, safe programs where shared resources can be managed cleanly with Arc and Mutex. The dining philosophers problem is a great example of Rust’s capabilities in handling complex synchronization issues, ensuring a safe and efficient solution.

Revisiting SPR in Haskell

Introduction

Quite some time ago, I wrote a post about a very simple Scissors, Paper, Rock implementation using Haskell. In today’s post, I’d like to revisit that code and clean it up with some tests now that I know a little more.

Avoiding so much do

One point is to avoid the use of do notation, when it’s not needed.

-- Map string to Move
str2Move :: String -> Move
str2Move "s" = Scissors
str2Move "p" = Paper
str2Move "r" = Rock
str2Move _   = Unknown

-- Determine the move that beats the given move
getWinner :: Move -> Move
getWinner Scissors = Rock
getWinner Rock     = Paper
getWinner Paper    = Scissors
getWinner Unknown  = Unknown

These functions were previously do notated, can be simplified back to these translations. The usage of pattern matching here also improves the readability of the code.

Improved randomness

What was being used before getStdGen has now been replaced with newStdGen, which gives us a new random generator per game, improving the randomness.

main :: IO ()
main = do
   gen <- newStdGen

Tests

To verify our game logic, some tests have been added using Hspec.

-- MainSpec.hs
module MainSpec where

import Test.Hspec
import System.Random (mkStdGen)
import Main  -- Import your module here

main :: IO ()
main = hspec $ do
    describe "str2Move" $ do
        it "converts 's' to Scissors" $
            str2Move "s" `shouldBe` Scissors
        it "converts 'p' to Paper" $
            str2Move "p" `shouldBe` Paper
        it "converts 'r' to Rock" $
            str2Move "r" `shouldBe` Rock
        it "returns Unknown for invalid input" $
            str2Move "x" `shouldBe` Unknown

    describe "getWinner" $ do
        it "Rock beats Scissors" $
            getWinner Scissors `shouldBe` Rock
        it "Paper beats Rock" $
            getWinner Rock `shouldBe` Paper
        it "Scissors beat Paper" $
            getWinner Paper `shouldBe` Scissors
        it "Unknown returns Unknown" $
            getWinner Unknown `shouldBe` Unknown

    describe "getOutcome" $ do
        it "returns Draw when both moves are the same" $
            getOutcome Rock Rock `shouldBe` Draw
        it "returns Winner when player beats CPU" $
            getOutcome Rock Scissors `shouldBe` Winner
        it "returns Loser when CPU beats player" $
            getOutcome Scissors Rock `shouldBe` Loser
        it "returns ND for Unknown player move" $
            getOutcome Unknown Rock `shouldBe` ND
        it "returns ND for Unknown CPU move" $
            getOutcome Rock Unknown `shouldBe` ND

    describe "getCpuMove" $ do
        it "returns Rock for seed 1" $
            getCpuMove (mkStdGen 1) `shouldBe` Rock
        it "returns Scissors for seed 2" $
            getCpuMove (mkStdGen 2) `shouldBe` Scissors
        it "returns Paper for seed 3" $
            getCpuMove (mkStdGen 3) `shouldBe` Paper

Here is the full code listing:

module Main where

import System.IO
import System.Random

data Move = Scissors | Paper | Rock | Unknown deriving (Eq, Show)
data Outcome = Winner | Draw | Loser | ND deriving (Show)

-- Map string to Move
str2Move :: String -> Move
str2Move "s" = Scissors
str2Move "p" = Paper
str2Move "r" = Rock
str2Move _   = Unknown

-- Determine the move that beats the given move
getWinner :: Move -> Move
getWinner Scissors = Rock
getWinner Rock     = Paper
getWinner Paper    = Scissors
getWinner Unknown  = Unknown

-- Calculate the outcome based on player and CPU moves
getOutcome :: Move -> Move -> Outcome
getOutcome player cpu
   | player == Unknown || cpu == Unknown = ND
   | player == cpu = Draw
   | cpu == getWinner player = Loser
   | otherwise = Winner

-- Generate a CPU move based on random number
getCpuMove :: StdGen -> Move
getCpuMove gen = case fst (randomR (1, 3) gen :: (Int, StdGen)) of
   1 -> Rock
   2 -> Scissors
   3 -> Paper
   _ -> Unknown  -- This case is unreachable but keeps pattern exhaustive

main :: IO ()
main = do
   gen <- newStdGen  -- Get a new generator each round for more randomness
   putStr "Enter your choice (s, p, or r): "
   hFlush stdout
   line <- getLine

   let player = str2Move line
   if player == Unknown
      then putStrLn "Invalid input! Please enter 's', 'p', or 'r'."
      else do
         let cpu = getCpuMove gen
         let outcome = getOutcome player cpu

         putStrLn $ "Player Chose: " ++ show player
         putStrLn $ "CPU Chose   : " ++ show cpu
         putStrLn $ "Outcome     : " ++ show outcome

Learning Rust

Introduction

In an attempt to put myself on an accelerated learning course about Rust, I’ve produced a number of articles in a “Learn Rust” series.

Part 1-3: Core Concepts

These articles introduce you to Rust’s syntax, ownership model, and error handling, forming the essential foundation of Rust programming.

• Part 1 - Language Basics
• Part 2 - Memory Safety
• Part 3 - Error Handling

Part 4-9: Advanced Language Features

Learn about Rust’s advanced features that make it unique, including concurrency, macros, generics, and more. These tools help you write safe, efficient, and reusable code.

• Part 4 - Concurrency
• Part 5 - Data Structures
• Part 6 - Traits and Generics
• Part 7 - Macros and Metaprogramming
• Part 8 - Unsafe
• Part 9 - Files and I/O

Part 10-13: Development Tools and Web Programming

This section explores Rust’s ecosystem for testing, package management, and web development, providing tools to help you maintain, extend, and deploy Rust applications.

• Part 10 - Testing and Debugging
• Part 11 - Crates and Package Management
• Part 12 - Web Development
• Part 13 - Networking and Protocols

Part 14-16: Specialized Topics

Dive into Rust’s applications in secure programming, systems development, and interoperability with other languages. These areas highlight Rust’s unique strengths and its use in performance-critical applications.

• Part 14 - Security and Cryptography
• Part 15 - Systems Programming
• Part 16 - Interoperability

Dive in, start with Part 1