In their most generic form, trees are graphs—directed, acyclic graphs. A general graph can be described as a collection of connected nodes, sometimes referred to as vertices, with certain properties such as whether cycles are allowed. The connections between those also have their own name: edges. These edges can have certain properties as well, in particular, weights and directions (like one-way streets).
By enforcing these constraints, a model can be built that, just like trees, reflects a certain reality very well. There is one particular thing that is typically represented as a weighted graph: the internet. While, nowadays, this might be an oversimplification, with various versions of the Internet Protocol (IPv4 and IPv6) and
