N Queens puzzle:

This repository contains logic to calculate and visualice the N Queens problem. It features the use of recursive backtracking to find the solutions and a customizable visualization style.

┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼
│       │·······│       │·······│
│       │·······│   ♛   │·······│
│       │·······│       │·······│
┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼
│·······│       │·······│       │
│·· ♛ ··│       │·······│       │
│·······│       │·······│       │
┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼
│       │·······│       │·······│
│       │·······│       │·· ♛ ··│
│       │·······│       │·······│
┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼
│·······│       │·······│       │
│·······│   ♛   │·······│       │
│·······│       │·······│       │
┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼

Use:

To use the code, you can type on the root of the repository:

make fclean
make

Why? To compile the code, there's a Makefile to automate the installation. For a basic install, use:

make fclean

to clean the binaries and repository, followed by

make

or

make all

or

make XXXXX

To install the alternative style where XXXXX is the desired style. See how to create a custom style to create your own.

Once compiled, you can execute the program using:

./representation X

where X is the size of the desired grid (If none given, the default is 8)

Create custom styles:

Imagine you want to create a style called YYYY. Here are the steps:

• Go to ./src/style/

• Copy any of the already defined styles and renamed it following the same syntax (YYYY_chess_style.h)

    cp classic_chess_style.h YYYYY_chess_style.h
  

• Edit and save the file to your linking.

• Go to the Makefile in the root directory of the repo and add the following line (there's a comment on the spot for you to use :D):

    YYYY: YYYY_chess_style.h $(EXE_NAME)
  

• That's it! Just recompile using the new style!

Considerations

• Due to the inefficiency of printing on the screen each solution, for a grid greater than 13-14 the output becomes too great. However, the code is designed so you can just use the part to find the solutions with a bit of modification.
• The total number of solutions is stored on a int variable to count them. If you want to track the number for bigger sizes, remember to use a variable big enough.