Introduction

Abstract

Trees and graphs count among the most useful mathematical abstractions and, at the same time, the most common combinatorial structures in computer science. Both the graph-theoretical notions underlying algorithms on trees and graphs and appropriate data structures for their representation are the subject of this chapter. Further, a brief primer of the literate programming style adopted in this book for the presentation of algorithms and data structures is included in this chapter, together with a brief exposition of the implementation correctness approach by result checking using correctness certificates. The reader who is not familiar with the LEDA library of efficient C++ data structures and algorithms is referred to Appendix A.

Many algorithms published in journals are presented in a rather cryptic manner. The main concepts are given, but there is little in way of explanation by means of examples, and even less may be said about implementation.

—Alfs T. Berztiss [40]