Example of Container Use
Author: JTC1/SC22/WG9/ARG, by Randall Brukardt, ARG Editor

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# A.18.32 Example of Container Use

#### Examples

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The following example is an implementation of Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm in a directed graph with positive distances. The graph is represented by a map from nodes to sets of edges.
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with Ada.Containers.Vectors;
with Ada.Containers.Doubly_Linked_Lists;
use Ada.Containers;
generic
type Node is range <>;
package Shortest_Paths is
type Distance is new Float range 0.0 .. Float'Last;
type Edge is record
To, From : Node;
Length : Distance;
end record;
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package Node_Maps is new Vectors (Node, Node);
-- The algorithm builds a map to indicate the node used to reach a given
-- node in the shortest distance.
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package Adjacency_Lists is new Doubly_Linked_Lists (Edge);
use Adjacency_Lists;
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package Graphs is new Vectors (Node, Adjacency_Lists.List);
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package Paths is new Doubly_Linked_Lists (Node);
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function Shortest_Path
(G : Graphs.Vector; Source : Node; Target : Node) return Paths.List
with Pre => G (Source) /= Adjacency_Lists.Empty_List;
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end Shortest_Paths;
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package body Shortest_Paths is
function Shortest_Path
(G : Graphs.Vector; Source : Node; Target : Node) return Paths.List
is
use Adjacency_Lists, Node_Maps, Paths, Graphs;
Reached : array (Node) of Boolean := (others => False);
-- The set of nodes whose shortest distance to the source is known.
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Reached_From : array (Node) of Node;
So_Far : array (Node) of Distance := (others => Distance'Last);
The_Path : Paths.List := Paths.Empty_List;
Nearest_Distance : Distance;
Next : Node;
begin
So_Far(Source) := 0.0;
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while not Reached(Target) loop
Nearest_Distance := Distance'Last;
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-- Find closest node not reached yet, by iterating over all nodes.
-- A more efficient algorithm uses a priority queue for this step.
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Next := Source;
for N in Node'First .. Node'Last loop
if not Reached(N)
and then So_Far(N) < Nearest_Distance then
Next := N;
Nearest_Distance := So_Far(N);
end if;
end loop;
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if Nearest_Distance = Distance'Last then
-- No next node found, graph is not connected
return Paths.Empty_List;
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else
Reached(Next) := True;
end if;
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-- Update minimum distance to newly reachable nodes.
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for E of G (Next) loop
if not Reached(E.To) then
Nearest_Distance := E.Length + So_Far(Next);
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if Nearest_Distance < So_Far(E.To) then
Reached_From(E.To) := Next;
So_Far(E.To) := Nearest_Distance;
end if;
end if;
end loop;
end loop;
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-- Rebuild path from target to source.
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declare
N : Node := Target;
begin
while N /= Source loop
N := Reached_From(N);
Prepend (The_Path, N);
end loop;
end;
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return The_Path;
end;
end Shortest_Paths;
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Note that the effect of the Constant_Indexing aspect (on type Vector) and the Implicit_Dereference aspect (on type Reference_Type) is that
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G (Next)
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is a convenient short hand for
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G.Constant_Reference (Next).Element.all
26/3
Similarly, the effect of the loop:
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for E of G (Next) loop
if not Reached(E.To) then
...
end if;
end loop;
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is the same as:
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for C in G (Next).Iterate loop
declare
E : Edge renames G (Next)(C).all;
begin
if not Reached(E.To) then
...
end if;
end;
end loop;
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which is the same as:
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declare
L : Adjacency_Lists.List renames G (Next);
C : Adjacency_Lists.Cursor := L.First;
begin
while Has_Element (C) loop
declare
E : Edge renames L(C).all;
begin
if not Reached(E.To) then
...
end if;
end;
C := L.Next (C);
end loop;
end;

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