Editing 835: Tree
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The "Christmas tree" is a basic representation of a binary tree - the star at the top is the root node, and the lights running down indicate the connections between parent and child. Contrary to what the terms "root" and "leaf" might imply, trees in computer science are typically represented upside-down, with the root on top and the leaves fanning out below. | The "Christmas tree" is a basic representation of a binary tree - the star at the top is the root node, and the lights running down indicate the connections between parent and child. Contrary to what the terms "root" and "leaf" might imply, trees in computer science are typically represented upside-down, with the root on top and the leaves fanning out below. | ||
| β | The Christmas tree is constructed based on no apparent rules, but the main power of binary trees comes in organizing them according to specific rules. Because code that runs later can assume the data is organized in this specific way, it can use different algorithms that make things run faster. One way of doing this is with a heap. A {{w|Heap (data structure)|heap}} is a special kind of tree (usually a binary tree, but in this case a | + | The Christmas tree is constructed based on no apparent rules, but the main power of binary trees comes in organizing them according to specific rules. Because code that runs later can assume the data is organized in this specific way, it can use different algorithms that make things run faster. One way of doing this is with a heap. A {{w|Heap (data structure)|heap}} is a special kind of tree (usually a binary tree, but in this case a ternary tree), subject to one additional rule: |
*For every node in the tree, ''everything'' beneath that node - both or all of its children, all of its children's children, all of ''their'' children, and so on - are "less than" the node itself. | *For every node in the tree, ''everything'' beneath that node - both or all of its children, all of its children's children, all of ''their'' children, and so on - are "less than" the node itself. | ||
