adamant's blog

Suggestion: DOT graph description language on Codeforces
By adamant, 11 years ago, translation, In English

Hi everyone!

It's no secret that in competitive programming we often have to work with graphs[citation needed]. We also often have to draw graphs. And maybe some people already know that there is tool for visualization of graphs called GraphViz, which parses the DOT code into visual image with the corresponding graph.

Example of a graph that can be obtained using graphviz — compressed suffix tree for the string abaabbaaa. Yes, the graph contains a small mistake, but it is not important :)

Now, actually, to the subject. How do you feel about adding DOT language support to the Codeforces editor? I think it would be cool, and you? :)

  • Vote: I like it
  • +69
  • Vote: I do not like it

»
11 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +17 Vote: I do not like it

I do not think that the proposed feature is as useful as your post implies. Note that the program dot in GraphViz, which you used to produce your example, is not very good unless the graph is close to a tree. Drawing graphs in general often requires the right choice of tools and/or trial and error.

It is not that I have a strong objection to the proposed feature, but I doubt that it is very useful.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    11 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    On the other hand, neato with overlap=scale or overlap=prism is quite useful. It gives you approximately uniformly embedded graphs, very similar to the ones you would draw on paper.

    → Reply