# Lab: Graph traversal

Summary
We explore techniques for traversing graphs.
Repository
https://github.com/Grinnell-CSC207/graphs-2019S

## Preparation

Fork and clone the repository. Import it into eclipse.

## Exercises

a. Scan through the code so that you understand what methods are available and what approaches are used. Make notes on areas that are likely to be problematic.

b. Summarize the key design decisions in this implementation of graphs.

c. Suppose we wanted to work with unweighted, directed graphs. What decisions would we need to make or what strategies would we have to use in the client?

d. Suppose we wanted to work with weighted, undirected graphs. What decisions would we need to make or what strategies would we have to use in the client?

e. Suppose the code was written quickly by a programmer who was behind on sleep. What are likely trouble spots in the code?

### Exercise 1: A simple experiment

The file GraphExperiment.java contains a series of experiments with the Graph class.

a. Skim the file to make sure you understand what the experiments are exploring.

b. Run the experiment to see that the correct graphs are built.

c. Add a few experiments of your own to explore the trouble spots you identified in the prior problems.

### Exercise 2: Improved dumping

You will note that there is a dump procedure in the Graph class. That procedure prints out vertices and edges using vertex numbers. Write a new version of dump that prints out vertices and edges using vertex names.

Write a procedure, readGraph(String fName), that reads in a graph from a file. You can assume that the each row of the file is a pair of vertex names that represent an edge from the first to the second.

### Exercise 4: What can I reach?

Write a procedure, reachableFrom(PrintWriter pen, int vertex), that prints out a list of all the vertices reachable from a starting point. A vertex, v, is reachable from a vertex, u, if there is a path from u to v.

Conduct a few experiments to see if your procedure works correctly.

You can use depth-first search or breadth-first search.

Note: You will likely need to find a way to mark vertices to indicate that you’ve printed them out (or otherwise processed them) so that you don’t process them a second time.

### Exercise 5: What can I reach? re-revisited

Write a procedure, Iterator<Integer> reachable(int vertex), that returns an iterator of all the vertices reachable from a vertex.

You need only implement the hasNext and next methods. You need not worry about ConcurentModificationExceptions.

### Exercise 6: What can I reach? revisited

Write a procedure, pathsFrom(PrintWriter pen, int vertex), that prints out all the vertices reachable from a vertex and a path to each vertex. (There may be multiple paths to each vertex; you should only print out one.) For example, your output might look something like the following, showing that a can reach b, c, d, and e, using the paths shown.

a -> b
a -> b -> c
a -> d
a -> b -> c -> e


### Exercise 7: What can I reach? re-re-revisited

Write a variant of pathsFrom that uses whichever searching strategy you did not use in the original version. (If you used breadth-first search, implement depth-first search. If you used depth-first search, implement breadth-first search.)

## For those with extra time

If you find that you have extra time, write a program that uses breadth-first-search to build word trees.