Directed Acyclic Graph
A Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) is a finite directed graph with no directed cycles, meaning it consists of vertices and edges where each edge has a direction and there is no way to start at a vertex and follow a sequence of edges that loops back to it. It is a fundamental data structure in computer science used to model dependencies, precedence constraints, and partial orders. DAGs are widely applied in areas like task scheduling, data processing pipelines, version control systems, and blockchain technologies.
Developers should learn about DAGs when designing systems that involve dependency management, such as build tools (e.g., Make, Gradle), workflow orchestration (e.g., Apache Airflow), or distributed ledgers (e.g., IOTA, Hedera Hashgraph). They are essential for optimizing processes where tasks must be executed in a specific order without circular dependencies, ensuring efficiency and preventing deadlocks in applications like data pipelines and project management.