[Boost-users] [BGL] Why does astar_search require VertexList?

From: Rainer Deyke (rainerd_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-10-10 01:29:46

I am in need of a path-finding function, and decided to give 
astar_search from BGL a try.  However, I have found to my surprise that 
astar_search requires a VertexList graph.  Looking at the source code, I 
see that it does indeed try to iterate over all vertices.  I find this 
unreasonable.  My graph is not infinite, but it is large, and iterating 
over several hundred million vertices would completely kill performance 
for me.  (I intend to perform several of these searches per 
millisecond.)  I know for a fact that it is possible to implement A* 
without iterating over all vertices.  What is the rationale behind the 
current astar_search implementation?

-- 
Rainer Deyke - rainerd_at_[hidden]