Lab 09: More OOP, Linked Lists, and Trees
Due at 11:59pm on Friday, 7/26/2019.
Starter Files
Download lab09.zip. Inside the archive, you will find starter files for the questions in this lab, along with a copy of the Ok autograder.
Submission
By the end of this lab, you should have submitted the lab with
python3 ok --submit
. You may submit more than once before the
deadline; only the final submission will be graded.
Check that you have successfully submitted your code on
okpy.org.
- To receive credit for this lab, you must complete Questions 1 through 4 and submit through Ok.
- Questions 5 and 6 are optional. It is recommended that you complete these problems on your own time.
Topics
Consult this section if you need a refresher on the material for this lab. --It's okay to skip directly to the questions and refer back here should you get stuck.
Linked Lists
We've learned that a Python list is one way to store sequential values. Another type of list is a linked list. A Python list stores all of its elements in a single object, and each element can be accessed by using its index. A linked list, on the other hand, is a recursive object that only stores two things: its first value and a reference to the rest of the list, which is another linked list.
We can implement a class, Link
, that represents a linked list object. Each
instance of Link
has two instance attributes, first
and rest
.
class Link:
"""A linked list.
>>> s = Link(1)
>>> s.first
1
>>> s.rest is Link.empty
True
>>> s = Link(2, Link(3, Link(4)))
>>> s.first = 5
>>> s.rest.first = 6
>>> s.rest.rest = Link.empty
>>> s # Displays the contents of repr(s)
Link(5, Link(6))
>>> s.rest = Link(7, Link(Link(8, Link(9))))
>>> s
Link(5, Link(7, Link(Link(8, Link(9)))))
>>> print(s) # Prints str(s)
<5 7 <8 9>>
"""
empty = ()
def __init__(self, first, rest=empty):
assert rest is Link.empty or isinstance(rest, Link)
self.first = first
self.rest = rest
def __repr__(self):
if self.rest is not Link.empty:
rest_repr = ', ' + repr(self.rest)
else:
rest_repr = ''
return 'Link(' + repr(self.first) + rest_repr + ')'
def __str__(self):
string = '<'
while self.rest is not Link.empty:
string += str(self.first) + ' '
self = self.rest
return string + str(self.first) + '>'
A valid linked list can be one of the following:
- An empty linked list (
Link.empty
) - A
Link
object containing the first value of the linked list and a reference to the rest of the linked list
What makes a linked list recursive is that the rest
attribute of a single
Link
instance is another linked list! In the big picture, each Link
instance stores a single value of the list. When multiple Link
s are linked
together through each instance's rest
attribute, an entire sequence is
formed.
Note: This definition means that the
rest
attribute of anyLink
instance must be eitherLink.empty
or anotherLink
instance! This is enforced inLink.__init__
, which raises anAssertionError
if the value passed in forrest
is neither of these things.
To check if a linked list is empty, compare it against the class attribute
Link.empty
. For example, the function below prints out whether or not the
link it is handed is empty:
def test_empty(link):
if link is Link.empty:
print('This linked list is empty!')
else:
print('This linked list is not empty!')
Motivation: Why linked lists
Since you are already familiar with Python's built-in lists, you might be wondering why we are teaching you another list representation. There are historical reasons, along with practical reasons. Later in the course, you'll be programming in Scheme, which is a programming language that uses linked lists for almost everything.
For now, let's compare linked lists and Python lists by looking at two common sequence operations: inserting an item and indexing.
Python's built-in list is like a sequence of containers with indices on them:
Linked lists are a list of items pointing to their neighbors. Notice that there's no explicit index for each item.
Suppose we want to add an item at the head of the list.
- With Python's built-in list, if you want to put an item into the container labeled with index 0, you must move all the items in the list into its neighbor containers to make room for the first item;
- With a linked list, you tell Python that the neighbor of the new item is the old beginning of the list.
We can compare the speed of this operation by timing how long it takes to insert a large number of items to the beginning of both types of lists. Enter the following command in your terminal to test this:
python3 timing.py insert 100000
Now, let's take a look at indexing. Say we want the item at index 3 from a list.
- In the built-in list, you can use Python list indexing, e.g.
lst[3]
, to easily get the item at index 3. - In the linked list, you need to start at the first item and repeatedly follow
the
rest
attribute, e.g.link.rest.rest.first
. How does this scale if the index you were trying to access was very large?
To test this, enter the following command in your terminal
python3 timing.py index 10000
This program compares the speed of randomly accessing 10,000 items from both a linked list and a built-in Python list (each with length 10,000).
What conclusions can you draw from these tests? Can you think of situations where you would want to use one type of list over another? In this class, we aren't too worried about performance. However, in future computer science courses, you'll learn how to make performance tradeoffs in your programs by choosing your data structures carefully.
Mutable Trees
Recall that a tree is a recursive abstract data type that has a label
(the
value stored in the root of the tree) and branches
(a list of trees directly
underneath the root).
We saw one way to implement the tree ADT -- using constructor and selector
functions that treat trees as lists. Another, more formal, way to implement the
tree ADT is with a class. Here is part of the class definition for Tree
,
which can be found in lab07.py
:
class Tree:
"""
>>> t = Tree(3, [Tree(2, [Tree(5)]), Tree(4)])
>>> t.label
3
>>> t.branches[0].label
2
>>> t.branches[1].is_leaf()
True
"""
def __init__(self, label, branches=[]):
for b in branches:
assert isinstance(b, Tree)
self.label = label
self.branches = list(branches)
def is_leaf(self):
return not self.branches
Even though this is a new implementation, everything we know about the tree ADT remains true. That means that solving problems involving trees as objects uses the same techniques that we developed when first studying the tree ADT (e.g. we can still use recursion on the branches!). The main difference, aside from syntax, is that tree objects are mutable.
Here is a summary of the differences between the tree ADT implemented using functions and lists vs. implemented using a class:
- | Tree constructor and selector functions | Tree class |
---|---|---|
Constructing a tree | To construct a tree given a label and a list of branches , we call tree(label, branches) |
To construct a tree object given a label and a list of branches , we call Tree(label, branches) (which calls the Tree.__init__ method) |
Label and branches | To get the label or branches of a tree t , we call label(t) or branches(t) respectively |
To get the label or branches of a tree t , we access the instance attributes t.label or t.branches respectively |
Mutability | The tree ADT is immutable because we cannot assign values to call expressions | The label and branches attributes of a Tree instance can be reassigned, mutating the tree |
Checking if a tree is a leaf | To check whether a tree t is a leaf, we call the convenience function is_leaf(t) |
To check whether a tree t is a leaf, we call the bound method t.is_leaf() . This method can only be called on Tree objects. |
Required Questions
Q1: WWPD: Linked Lists
Read over the Link
class in lab09.py
. Make sure you understand the
doctests.
Use Ok to test your knowledge with the following "What Would Python Display?" questions:
python3 ok -q link -u
Enter
Function
if you believe the answer is<function ...>
,Error
if it errors, andNothing
if nothing is displayed.If you get stuck, try drawing out the box-and-pointer diagram for the linked list on a piece of paper or loading the
Link
class into the interpreter withpython3 -i lab09.py
.
>>> from lab09 import *
>>> link = Link(1000)
>>> link.first
______1000
>>> link.rest is Link.empty
______True
>>> link = Link(1000, 2000)
______AssertionError
>>> link = Link(1000, Link())
______TypeError
>>> from lab09 import *
>>> link = Link(1, Link(2, Link(3)))
>>> link.first
______1
>>> link.rest.first
______2
>>> link.rest.rest.rest is Link.empty
______True
>>> link.first = 9001
>>> link.first
______9001
>>> link.rest = link.rest.rest
>>> link.rest.first
______3
>>> link = Link(1)
>>> link.rest = link
>>> link.rest.rest.rest.rest.first
______1
>>> link = Link(2, Link(3, Link(4)))
>>> link2 = Link(1, link)
>>> link2.first
______1
>>> link2.rest.first
______2
Q2: Link to List
Write a function link_to_list
that takes in a linked list and returns the
sequence as a Python list. You may assume that the input list is shallow; none
of the elements is another linked list.
Try to find both an iterative and recursive solution for this problem!
def link_to_list(link):
"""Takes a linked list and returns a Python list with the same elements.
>>> link = Link(1, Link(2, Link(3, Link(4))))
>>> link_to_list(link)
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> link_to_list(Link.empty)
[]
"""
"*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
# Recursive solution
if link is Link.empty:
return []
return [link.first] + link_to_list(link.rest)
# Iterative solution
def link_to_list(link):
result = []
while link is not Link.empty:
result.append(link.first)
link = link.rest
return result
# Video Walkthrough: https://youtu.be/hdO9Ry8d5FU?t=25m6s
Use Ok to test your code:
python3 ok -q link_to_list
Q3: Store Digits
Write a function store_digits
that takes in an integer n
and returns
a linked list where each element of the list is a digit of n
.
def store_digits(n):
"""Stores the digits of a positive number n in a linked list.
>>> s = store_digits(1)
>>> s
Link(1)
>>> store_digits(2345)
Link(2, Link(3, Link(4, Link(5))))
>>> store_digits(876)
Link(8, Link(7, Link(6)))
"""
"*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
result = Link.empty
while n > 0:
result = Link(n % 10, result)
n //= 10
return result
Use Ok to test your code:
python3 ok -q store_digits
Q4: Cumulative Sum
Write a function cumulative_sum
that mutates the Tree t
so that each node's
label becomes the sum of all labels in the subtree rooted at the node.
def cumulative_sum(t):
"""Mutates t so that each node's label becomes the sum of all labels in
the corresponding subtree rooted at t.
>>> t = Tree(1, [Tree(3, [Tree(5)]), Tree(7)])
>>> cumulative_sum(t)
>>> t
Tree(16, [Tree(8, [Tree(5)]), Tree(7)])
"""
"*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
for b in t.branches:
cumulative_sum(b)
t.label = sum([b.label for b in t.branches]) + t.label
Use Ok to test your code:
python3 ok -q cumulative_sum
Optional Questions
The following questions are for extra practice. It is recommended that you complete these problems on your own time.
Q5: Cycles
The Link
class can represent lists with cycles. That is, a list may
contain itself as a sublist.
>>> s = Link(1, Link(2, Link(3)))
>>> s.rest.rest.rest = s
>>> s.rest.rest.rest.rest.rest.first
3
Implement has_cycle
,that returns whether its argument, a Link
instance, contains a cycle.
Hint: Iterate through the linked list and try keeping track of which
Link
objects you've already seen.
def has_cycle(link):
"""Return whether link contains a cycle.
>>> s = Link(1, Link(2, Link(3)))
>>> s.rest.rest.rest = s
>>> has_cycle(s)
True
>>> t = Link(1, Link(2, Link(3)))
>>> has_cycle(t)
False
>>> u = Link(2, Link(2, Link(2)))
>>> has_cycle(u)
False
"""
"*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
links = []
while link is not Link.empty:
if link in links:
return True
links.append(link)
link = link.rest
return False
Use Ok to test your code:
python3 ok -q has_cycle
As an extra challenge, implement has_cycle_constant
with only constant space. (If you followed
the hint above, you will use linear space.) The solution is short (less than 20
lines of code), but requires a clever idea. Try to discover the solution
yourself before asking around:
def has_cycle_constant(link):
"""Return whether link contains a cycle.
>>> s = Link(1, Link(2, Link(3)))
>>> s.rest.rest.rest = s
>>> has_cycle_constant(s)
True
>>> t = Link(1, Link(2, Link(3)))
>>> has_cycle_constant(t)
False
"""
"*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
if link is Link.empty:
return False
slow, fast = link, link.rest
while fast is not Link.empty:
if fast.rest == Link.empty:
return False
elif fast is slow or fast.rest is slow:
return True
else:
slow, fast = slow.rest, fast.rest.rest
return False
Use Ok to test your code:
python3 ok -q has_cycle_constant
Q6: Reverse Other
Write a function reverse_other
that mutates the tree such that labels on
every other (odd-depth) level are reversed. For example,
Tree(1,[Tree(2, [Tree(4)]), Tree(3)])
becomes Tree(1,[Tree(3, [Tree(4)]), Tree(2)])
.
Notice that the nodes themselves are not reversed; only the labels are.
def reverse_other(t):
"""Mutates the tree such that nodes on every other (odd-depth) level
have the labels of their branches all reversed.
>>> t = Tree(1, [Tree(2), Tree(3), Tree(4)])
>>> reverse_other(t)
>>> t
Tree(1, [Tree(4), Tree(3), Tree(2)])
>>> t = Tree(1, [Tree(2, [Tree(3, [Tree(4), Tree(5)]), Tree(6, [Tree(7)])]), Tree(8)])
>>> reverse_other(t)
>>> t
Tree(1, [Tree(8, [Tree(3, [Tree(5), Tree(4)]), Tree(6, [Tree(7)])]), Tree(2)])
"""
"*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
def reverse_helper(t, need_reverse):
if t.is_leaf():
return
new_labs = [child.label for child in t.branches][::-1]
for i in range(len(t.branches)):
child = t.branches[i]
reverse_helper(child, not need_reverse)
if need_reverse:
child.label = new_labs[i]
reverse_helper(t, True)
Use Ok to test your code:
python3 ok -q reverse_other