Heuristic evaluation function

Question

What are the various factors on which heuristic evaluation function depends?

Answer 1

In general, the heuristic evaluation function may depend on many factors:

• The description of the next state
• The description of the goal state
• The information gathered by the search up to that point
• Any extra knowledge about the problem domain

Model checkers such as Java PathFinder allow users to extend the existing set of heuristics that come with the tool with user-defined heuristics. JPF provides full access to its internal state through an API that can be used to define powerful and complex heuristics. In practice, users can combine different heuristics which are used during the search.