A* Search Algorithm to find path between 2 points in ASCII data.

The program reads a 2D matrix from a file and stores it in a std::vector and is parsed to change it to required format. 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,

0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,

0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,

0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,

0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0,

The A* algorithm finds a path from the start node to the end node by checking for open neighbors of the current node, computing a heuristic for each of the neighbors, and adding those neighbors to the list of open nodes to explore next.

The next node to explore is the one with the lowest total cost + heuristic (g + h). This process is repeated until the end is found, as long as there are still open nodes to explore. Where g is the number of steps taken from start to finisn and h (heuristic) is the Manhattan Distance from one coordinate to the other: |x_2- x_1| + |y_2 - y_1|

The nodes with smallest g + h value are taken into account as path while others are ignored. At each node, all of the 4 neighbours are checked and if there is no obstacle over there, their respective overall cost (g + h) is compared. The one having lowest cost is considered as the node required. This is repeated until the finish node is found or all nodes are checked.