State-space planning

In artificial intelligence and computer programming, state-space planning is a process used in designing programs to search for data or solutions to problems. In a computer algorithm that searches a data structure for a piece of data, for example a program that looks up a word in a computer dictionary, the state space is a collective term for all the data to be searched. Similarly, artificial intelligence programs often employ a process of searching through a finite universe of possible procedures for reaching a goal, to find a procedure or the best procedure to achieve the goal. The universe of possible solutions to be searched is called the state space. State-space planning is the process of deciding which parts of the state space the program will search, and in what order.