ESHOPPS: A COMPUTATIONAL TOOL TO AID THE TEACHING OF SHORTEST PATH ALGORITHMS

• Main Authors: S. J. de A. LIMA, W. L. da SILVA, S. A. de ARAÚJO
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor's University 2015-07-01
• Series: Journal of Engineering Science and Technology
• Subjects: Shortest path; Computational tool; Virtual learning environment; Engineering education; Routing algorithms
• Online Access: http://jestec.taylors.edu.my/Vol%2010%20issue%207%20July%202015/Volume%20(10)%20Issue%20(7)%20898-910.pdf
• ISSN: 1823-4690

The development of a computational tool called EShoPPS – Environment for Shortest Path Problem Solving, which is used to assist students in understanding the working of Dijkstra, Greedy search and A*(star) algorithms is presented in this paper. Such algorithms are commonly taught in graduate and undergraduate courses of Engineering and Informatics and are used for solving many optimization problems that can be characterized as Shortest Path Problem. The EShoPPS is an interactive tool that allows students to create a graph representing the problem and also helps in developing their knowledge of each specific algorithm. Experiments performed with 155 students of undergraduate and graduate courses such as Industrial Engineering, Computer Science and Information Systems have shown that by using the EShoPPS tool students were able to improve their interpretation of investigated algorithms.