Implementing Disjoint Set System In Python

Question

What I have so far is largely based off page 571 of \"Introduction To Algorithms\" by Cormen et al.

I have a Node class in python that represents a set:

Answer 1

The Wikipedia page provides pseudocode for the basic operations on disjoint-set data structure. Here's a direct port to Python (employs path compression and union by rank):

class Node:
    """Represents an element of a set."""
    def __init__(self, id):
        self.id = id
        self.parent = self
        self.rank = 0
        self.size = 1

    def __repr__(self):
        return 'Node({!r})'.format(self.id)


def Find(x):
    """Returns the representative object of the set containing x."""
    if x.parent is not x:
        x.parent = Find(x.parent)
    return x.parent


def Union(x, y):
    """Combines the sets x and y belong to."""
    xroot = Find(x)
    yroot = Find(y)

    # x and y are already in the same set
    if xroot is yroot:
        return

    # x and y are not in same set, so we merge them
    if xroot.rank < yroot.rank:
        xroot, yroot = yroot, xroot  # swap xroot and yroot

    # merge yroot into xroot
    yroot.parent = xroot
    xroot.size += yroot.size
    if xroot.rank == yroot.rank:
        xroot.rank = xroot.rank + 1

Demo:

>>> a, b, c = map(Node, 'abc')
>>> Find(a), Find(b), Find(c)
(Node('a'), Node('b'), Node('c'))
>>> Find(a).size
1
>>> Union(a, b)
>>> Union(b, c)
>>> Find(a), Find(b), Find(c)
(Node('a'), Node('a'), Node('a'))
>>> Find(a).size
3