We end our section of the DFS algorithm with a discussion on DAGs (directed acyclic graphs), because most implementations of depth-first search will check to see if any cycles exist, and a large part of that is based on the DFS algorithm checking to see whether or not a graph is a directed acyclic graph. DAGs are also somewhat infamous in computer science because they’re pretty much everywhere in sofware. For example, a directed acyclic graph is the backbone of applications that handle scheduling for systems of tasks or handling jobs — especially those that need to be processed in a particular order. So let's dig into DAGs! Based on Vaidehi Joshi's blog post, "Spinning Around In Cycles With Directed Acyclic Graphs".
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Vaidehi is a writer and an engineer at Tilde, where she works on Skylight. She's the creator of basecs, a weekly writing series that explores the fundamentals of computer science.
Saron is a developer, podcaster, founder of CodeNewbie, and host of the CodeNewbie Podcast.
CodeNewbie is the most supportive community of programmers and people learning to code. They produce the CodeNewbie Podcast and the annual Codeland conference. Follow them on twitter @CodeNewbies. For more info, checkout www.codenewbie.org