How does Breadth-First Search work in practice?

Can you explain how Breadth-First Search works in practice?

Sure! Breadth-First Search (BFS) is an algorithm for traversing or searching tree or graph data structures. It explores all the neighbor nodes at the present depth prior to moving on to nodes at the next depth level.

What are some real-world applications of BFS?

BFS is used in various applications such as finding the shortest path in unweighted graphs, web crawling, and social networking applications to find connections.

Can you show me a simple code example of BFS?

Absolutely! Here's a simple Python implementation of BFS:

from collections import deque

def bfs(graph, start):
    visited = set()
    queue = deque([start])

    while queue:
        vertex = queue.popleft()
        if vertex not in visited:
            visited.add(vertex)
            queue.extend(neighbor for neighbor in graph[vertex] if neighbor not in visited)
    return visited

How does BFS differ from Depth-First Search?

BFS explores all neighbors at the present depth before moving deeper, while Depth-First Search (DFS) goes as deep as possible down one path before backtracking.