seealgo

A Python library to visualize a data structure as it changes throughout a function

Overview

When writing algorithms, I often find that visualizing the data structures are necessary, but it can be difficult and time-consuming to do so. The goal of the seealgo library is to allow users to visualize a given data structure as it changes in a given function.

So far, the seealgo library provides visualization for the following data structures and methods:

• List: append(value), insert(index, value), remove(value), __setitem__(index, value)
• Binary Search Tree (provided as a nested dictionary): insert(child), remove(value)
• Set: add(value), remove(value), clear(), update(values)
• Dictionary (nested and non-nested): update(iterable), pop(key)

Installation

This library requires you to have graphviz installed on your system using the instructions appropriate for your system, or by using the following command if you are on a macOS device:

brew install graphviz

Then, install seealgo using the following command:

pip install seealgo

Using seealgo

(for examples of all data structures available with seealgo, visit our GitHub Pages!)

This is an example of using the List module to visualize appending 5 to a list:

from seealgo import List

visual_list = List()
test_list = [1, 2, 3, 4]

def append_to_list(input_list):
  input_list.append(5)
  return input_list

visual_list.see(append_to_list, test_list)

This is an example of using the Tree module to visualize adding a leaf node with value 2 to a binary search tree:

from seealgo import Tree

visual_tree = Tree()

test_tree = {
    '8': {
        '3': {
            '1': None,
            '6': None
        },
        '10': None
    }
}

def insert_func(init_tree):
    init_tree.add_child(2)
    return init_tree

visual_tree.see(insert_func, test_tree)