Chapter 6. Breadth-first Search

In this chapter

  • You learn how to model a network using a new, abstract data structure: graphs.
  • You learn breadth-first search, an algorithm you can run on graphs to answer questions like, “What’s the shortest path to go to X?”
  • You learn about directed versus undirected graphs.
  • You learn topological sort, a different kind of sorting algorithm that exposes dependencies between nodes.

This chapter introduces graphs. First, I’ll talk about what graphs are (they don’t involve an X or Y axis). Then I’ll show you your first graph algorithm. It’s called breadth-first search (BFS).

Breadth-first search allows you to find ...

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