February 24, 2026
Maze math, hot takes
Show HN: Recursively apply patterns for pathfinding
New path tool has geeks cheering while skeptics ask “papers?”
TLDR: A slick demo shows a pattern-based pathfinder that scales by obstacle count, not map size. The community split: one user shared a helpful explainer, another flagged inefficiencies and asked for papers, debating whether it’s true AI or clever math—and how well it works in the real world.
An eye-catching demo dropped on Show HN: a pathfinder that keeps reusing tiny route “patterns” whenever it hits a wall, powered by intersection math so big maps don’t slow it down. It’s playful, too—you can drag obstacles and move the start/end points like a digital maze toy. The community immediately split: some dove in and started asking for receipts, others just enjoyed the ride. One helpful voice, sublinear, pointed everyone to a clarifying blog post, linking this explainer.
Then came the classic Hacker News mood swing. dvt called it “super cool” but flagged visible hiccups and asked for academic papers, posting screenshots of inefficiencies. The phrase “not a free lunch” became the comment-section catchphrase, while another line—“pretty sweet application of AI”—sparked the inevitable “is it really AI?” eyebrow raise. The vibe: a tug-of-war between “wow, neat!” and “show me the data.” Some wanted benchmarks and hard proof; others loved the interactive sandbox and the promise that performance depends on obstacles, not map size. It’s the internet’s favorite showdown: demo magic vs. engineering skepticism, complete with link-sharing, performance nitpicks, and low-key meme energy about free lunches and maze math.
Key Points
- •The algorithm finds paths from A to B by recursively applying patterns when encountering obstacles.
- •It uses intersection math, making runtime depend on obstacle count and path complexity rather than area size.
- •The demo lets users draw obstacles and move start (Green) and end (Red) points to test scenarios.
- •Patterns applied at intersections are displayed at the bottom of the page for transparency.
- •A sidebar offers example configurations, and a blog post provides more details about the algorithm.