Tic Tac Toe Challenge in Cypher
Blog post from Neo4j
In a Neo4j Developer Blog post, the author explores the use of Cypher, the query language for the Neo4j graph database, to create a computer player for a five-in-a-row version of Tic Tac Toe, detailing a competition among Neo4j colleagues. The challenge involved writing a single Cypher query to make a move for a player, with participants employing strategies like brute force pattern matching and heuristic searching, including innovative approaches such as using Neo4j's new Quantified Path Patterns feature. The post highlights the simplicity and effectiveness of Cypher in pattern matching compared to traditional programming languages like Java. It also discusses the implementation of a recursive Negamax algorithm in Cypher, which initially seemed impossible, but was achieved by using the database to manage a stack for recursion. The winning strategy in the competition involved recognizing and exploiting the powerful "fork" construct, which allows a player to create multiple simultaneous threats that the opponent cannot block. The post concludes by inviting readers to further explore Cypher and mentions additional resources for learning more about Quantified Path Patterns.
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