The code is written in C++, and can be compiled using the g++ compiler by running the provided build.sh script. The executable will be named hw3, and placed in the bin folder. The sequence of compiling and running can be like the commands below.

cd ece479-hw3           # go to root folder of project
chmod +x build.sh       # give the build script execute permission
./build.sh              # compile the code
./bin/hw3 astar 1       # solve the puzzle with astar heuristic 1

Please encode the A* algorithm in C, C++, or a language that we can compile and run to investigate the power of heuristics for the A* algorithm using the 8 puzzle problem. Use any two heuristics you may research or invent your own heuristics as long as they guarantee the solution optimality. In your write up, please explain how those two heuristics compare, and clearly state comparison criteria with respect to their efficiency of finding the optimal solutions.