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Optimize Graph.topologicalSort
The optimized code achieves a **140% speedup** by replacing an inefficient list operation with a more performant approach. The key optimization is changing `stack.insert(0, v)` to `stack.append(v)` followed by a single `stack.reverse()` call. **What changed:** - In `topologicalSortUtil`: `stack.insert(0, v)` → `stack.append(v)` - In `topologicalSort`: Added `stack.reverse()` before returning - Minor improvement: `visited[i] == False` → `not visited[i]` (slightly more Pythonic) **Why this is faster:** The original code performs `stack.insert(0, v)` for every node visited, which is an O(N) operation since Python lists must shift all existing elements when inserting at the head. For a graph with N nodes, this results in O(N²) total time complexity just for list operations. The optimized version uses `stack.append(v)` (O(1) operation) for each node, then performs a single `stack.reverse()` (O(N)) at the end. This reduces the list operation complexity from O(N²) to O(N). **Performance impact:** The line profiler shows the stack operation time dropped from 3.06ms (21% of total time) to 1.78ms (12.6% of total time) in `topologicalSortUtil`. The optimization is particularly effective for larger graphs - test cases show **157-197% speedup** for graphs with 1000 nodes, while smaller graphs (≤5 nodes) show minimal or mixed results since the O(N²) vs O(N) difference isn't significant at small scales. This optimization maintains identical functionality and correctness while dramatically improving performance for larger topological sorting workloads.
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code_to_optimize/topological_sort.py

Lines changed: 4 additions & 3 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -14,18 +14,19 @@ def topologicalSortUtil(self, v, visited, stack):
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visited[v] = True
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for i in self.graph[v]:
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if visited[i] == False:
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if not visited[i]:
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self.topologicalSortUtil(i, visited, stack)
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stack.insert(0, v)
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stack.append(v) # More efficient than insert(0, v)
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def topologicalSort(self):
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visited = [False] * self.V
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stack = []
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sorting_id = uuid.uuid4()
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for i in range(self.V):
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if visited[i] == False:
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if not visited[i]:
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self.topologicalSortUtil(i, visited, stack)
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stack.reverse() # Reversing once is faster than repeated insert(0, v)
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return stack, str(sorting_id)

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