Solving Exact Cover with DLX

This project is a Java implementation of the Dancing Links algorithm used to solve exact cover problems.

Usage

Exact cover matrices require a List<MatrixRow> and List<MatrixColumn> to be created. The values represented in each row must match the number of columns, otherwise an IllegalNodeColumnException is thrown.

Creating a Matrix:

        ExactCoverMatrix ecm = new ExactCoverMatrix(
                List.of(new MatrixColumn("Wallet"), new MatrixColumn("Keys"), new MatrixColumn("Phone")),
                List.of(new MatrixRow("1", new boolean[]{ true, false, true }), new MatrixRow("2", new boolean[]{ true, true, true }), new MatrixRow("3", new boolean[]{ false, false, false }))
        );

To create a solvable DLX Board, pass an ExactCoverMatrix to the constructor in DLXBoard:

DLXBoard b = new DLXBoard(ecm);

If a solution is found, the answer(s) will be returned as a List<List<Node>>, where each List<Node> represents a solution. The following:

        ExactCoverMatrix ecm = new ExactCoverMatrix(
                List.of(new MatrixColumn("Wallet"), new MatrixColumn("Keys"), new MatrixColumn("Phone")),
                List.of(
                        new MatrixRow("1", new boolean[]{ true, false, true }),
                        new MatrixRow("2", new boolean[]{ true, true, false }),
                        new MatrixRow("3", new boolean[]{ false, false, false }),
                        new MatrixRow("4", new boolean[]{ false, true, false }),
                        new MatrixRow("5", new boolean[]{ true, true, true })
                )
        );
        DLXBoard         b       = new DLXBoard(ecm);
        List<List<Node>> results = b.attemptSolve();

Results in:

[[1, 4], [5]]

Acknowledgements

https://github.com/rafalio/dancing-links-java

https://www.baeldung.com/java-sudoku

https://www.stolaf.edu/people/hansonr/sudoku/exactcover.htm

https://gieseanw.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/solving-sudoku-revisited/

https://garethrees.org/2007/06/10/zendoku-generation/#section-4

https://github.com/thomasjungblut/go-dancing-links