
                                 LEDA 

           A Platform for Combinatorial and Geometric Computing

 
                             Kurt Mehlhorn 
                   Max-Planck-Institut fuer Informatik
                  Im Stadtwald, 66123 Saarbruecken, FRG     


                             Stefan Naeher
                   Fachbereich Mathematik und Informatik
                Martin-Luther Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg
                  Weinbergweg 17, 06120 Halle(Saale), FRG



LEDA (Library of Efficient Data types and Algorithms) is a platform for 
combinatorial and geometric computing. The main features are:

    LEDA provides a sizable collection of data types and algorithms in a form 
    which allows them to be used by non-experts. This collection includes most 
    of the data types and algorithms described in the text books of the area. 

    LEDA gives a precise and readable specification for each of the data types 
    and algorithms mentioned above.  The specifications are short (typically, 
    not more than a page), general (so as to allow several implementations), 
    and abstract (so as to hide all details of the implementation). 

    For many efficient data structures access by position is important. In 
    LEDA, we use an item concept to cast positions into an abstract form. We 
    mention that most of the specifications given in the LEDA manual use this 
    concept, i.e., the concept is adequate for the description of many data 
    types. 

    LEDA contains efficient implementations for each of the data types, e.g., 
    Fibonacci heaps for priority queues, red-black trees and dynamic perfect 
    hashing for dictionaries, ...


    LEDA contains a comfortable data type graph. It offers the standard 
    iterations such as ``for all nodes v of a graph G do'' or ``for all 
    neighbors w of v do'', it allows to add and delete vertices and edges 
    and it offers arrays and matrices indexed by nodes and edges,...  
    The data type graph allows to write programs for graph problems in a 
    form close to the typical text book presentation.


    LEDA is implemented by a C++ class library. It can be used with almost
    any C++ compiler that supports templates.


    LEDA is not in the public domain, but can be used freely for academic
    research and teaching. It is available by anonymous ftp from 
    ftp.mpi-sb.mpg.de /pub/LEDA. Commercial licenses are distributed by the 
    LEDA Software GmbH.

   Write to leda@mpi-sb.mpg.de or subsribe to the news group comp.lang.c++.leda
   to get more information.

    



