On coding labeled trees

Abstract

Trees are probably the most studied class of graphs in Computer Science. In this thesis we study bijective codes that represent labeled trees by means of string of node labels. We contribute to the understanding of their algorithmic tractability, their properties, and their applications. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part we focus on two types of tree codes, namely Prufer-like codes and Transformation codes. We study optimal encoding and decoding algorithms, both in a sequential and in a parallel setting. We propose a unified approach that works for all Prufer-like codes and a more generic scheme based on the transformation of a tree into a functional digraph suitable for all bijective codes. Our results in this area close a variety of open problems. We also consider possible applications of tree encodings, discussing how to exploit these codes in Genetic Algorithms and in the generation of random trees. Moreover, we introduce a modified version of a known code that, in Genetic Algorithms, outperform all the other known codes. In the second part of the thesis we focus on two possible generalizations of our work. We first take into account the classes of k-trees and k-arch graphs (both superclasses of trees): we study bijective codes for this classes of graphs and their algorithmic feasibility. Then, we shift our attention to Informative Labeling Schemes. In this context labels are no longer considered as simple unique node identifiers, they rather convey information useful to achieve efficient computations on the tree. We exploit this idea to design a concurrent data structure for the lowest common ancestor problem on dynamic trees. We also present an experimental comparison between our labeling scheme and the one proposed by Peleg for static trees