Python Data Structures and Algorithms

Graphs and Other Algorithms

In this chapter, we are going to talk about graphs. This is a concept that comes from the branch of mathematics called graph theory.

Graphs are used to solve a number of computing problems. They also have much less structure than other data structures we have looked at and things like traversal can be much more unconventional, as we shall see.

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

• Understand what graphs are
• Know the types of graphs and their constituents
• Know how to represent a graph and traverse it
• Get a fundamental idea of what priority queues are
• Be able to implement a priority queue
• Be able to determine the ith smallest element in a list