Algorithms For Dummies

Traversing a Graph Efficiently

Traversing a graph means to search (visit) each vertex (node) in a specific order. 

The process of visiting a vertex can include both reading and updating it. As you 

traverse a graph, an unvisited vertex is undiscovered. After a visit, the vertex 

becomes discovered (because you just visited it) or processed (because the algorithm 

tried all the edges departing from it). The order of the search determines the kind 

of search performed, and many algorithms are available to perform this task. The 

following sections discuss two such algorithms.