pathfinding

English

Etymology

From path +‎ finding.

Noun

pathfinding (usually uncountable, plural pathfindings)

  1. (computing) The plotting by a computer application of the best route between two points.
    • 2024 December 11 (last accessed), “Villager”, in Minecraft Wiki[1]:
      When a suitable site block is detected, the villager starts pathfinding to it, staking a provisional claim.
  2. (biology) The finding of a path to a destination, such as by neuronal axons or developing cells.
    • 2002 November 29, Philip M. Boffey, “Editorial Notebook; The Incredible Mind of Einstein”, in The New York Times[2]:
      It comes as a shock to realize that Albert Einstein, whose theories still seem so futuristic and Star Trekky, did his first pathfinding work almost a century ago.

See also