7.6. Implementation¶
Using dictionaries, it is easy to implement the adjacency list in
Python. In our implementation of the graph abstract data type we will
create two classes:
Vertex, which will represent each vertex in the graph
(see Listing 1) and
Graph, which holds the master list of vertices (see Listing 2).
Each Vertex uses a dictionary to keep track of the vertices to which
it is connected and the weight of each edge. This dictionary is called
neighbors. The listing below shows the code for the Vertex
class. The constructor simply initializes the key, which will
typically be a string, and the neighbors dictionary. The
set_neighbor method is used to add a connection from this vertex to
another. The get_neighbors method returns all of the vertices in
the adjacency list, as represented by the neighbors instance
variable. The get_neighbor method returns the weight of the edge from
this vertex to the vertex passed as a parameter.
Listing 1
class Vertex:
def __init__(self, key):
self.key = key
self.neighbors = {}
def get_neighbor(self, other):
return self.neighbors.get(other, None)
def set_neighbor(self, other, weight=0):
self.neighbors[other] = weight
def __repr__(self):
return f"Vertex({self.key})"
def __str__(self):
return (
str(self.key)
+ " connected to: "
+ str([x.key for x in self.neighbors])
)
def get_neighbors(self):
return self.neighbors.keys()
def get_key(self):
return self.key
The Graph class, shown in the next listing, contains a dictionary
that maps vertex names to vertex objects. In Figure 4 this
dictionary object is represented by the shaded gray box. Graph also
provides methods for adding vertices to a graph and connecting one
vertex to another. The get_vertices method returns the names of all
of the vertices in the graph. In addition, we have implemented the
__iter__ method to make it easy to iterate over all the vertex
objects in a particular graph. Together, the two methods allow you to
iterate over the vertices in a graph by name, or by the objects
themselves.
Listing 2
class Graph:
def __init__(self):
self.vertices = {}
def set_vertex(self, key):
self.vertices[key] = Vertex(key)
def get_vertex(self, key):
return self.vertices.get(key, None)
def __contains__(self, key):
return key in self.vertices
def add_edge(self, from_vert, to_vert, weight=0):
if from_vert not in self.vertices:
self.set_vertex(from_vert)
if to_vert not in self.vertices:
self.set_vertex(to_vert)
self.vertices[from_vert].set_neighbor(self.vertices[to_vert], weight)
def get_vertices(self):
return self.vertices.keys()
def __iter__(self):
return iter(self.vertices.values())
Using the Graph and Vertex classes just defined, the following
Python session creates the graph in Figure 2. First we
create six vertices numbered 0 through 5. Then we display the vertex
dictionary. Notice that for each key 0 through 5 we have created an
instance of a Vertex. Next, we add the edges that connect the
vertices together. Finally, a nested loop verifies that each edge in the
graph is properly stored. You should check the output of the edge list
at the end of this session against Figure 2.
>>> g = Graph()
>>> for i in range(6):
... g.set_vertex(i)
>>> g.vertices
{0: Vertex(0), 1: Vertex(1), 2: Vertex(2), 3: Vertex(3), 4: Vertex(4), 5: Vertex(5)}
>>> g.add_edge(0, 1, 5)
>>> g.add_edge(0, 5, 2)
>>> g.add_edge(1, 2, 4)
>>> g.add_edge(2, 3, 9)
>>> g.add_edge(3, 4, 7)
>>> g.add_edge(3, 5, 3)
>>> g.add_edge(4, 0, 1)
>>> g.add_edge(5, 4, 8)
>>> g.add_edge(5, 2, 1)
>>> for v in g:
... for w in v.get_neighbors():
... print("f({v.get_key()}, {w.get_key()})")
...
(0, 1)
(0, 5)
(1, 2)
(2, 3)
(3, 4)
(3, 5)
(4, 0)
(5, 4)
(5, 2)