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Course Library · Lesson 5 of 6
Digital · Guided lesson

Detect repeated visits and cycles

About 22 minutes · 4 reading + 18 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
See this course’s project requirements

A runnable fictional help-desk simulator with an undo stack, FIFO queue and small dependency graph, plus empty and cyclic case tests.

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • An operation-to-structure map with three distinct retrieval rules.
  • An undo trace with last-in-first-out and empty-state handling.
  • A FIFO record with clear empty behavior.
  • A four-node dependency plan ending with archive.
  • A cycle diagnosis and justified repair record.
  • A runnable stack/queue/dependency demonstration with boundary evidence.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • The implementation or declared simulation follows the supplied contract and retains inspectable original inputs.
  • Normal, boundary and rejected cases are recorded with expected versus observed results.
  • The changed case has a correct explanation and does not rely on hidden state.
  • The project includes source, outputs, instructions and honest tool, privacy and verification limits.
Open the full course project
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Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

A depends on B and B depends on A. The supplied graphlib example raises CycleError.

The idea

A cycle makes a prerequisite schedule impossible: each member waits for another. Do not hide a cycle by marking a blocked task completed. A visited set also prevents repeatedly traversing the same node.

Follow along

Detect repeated visits and cycles — original worked practice

A cycle makes a prerequisite schedule impossible: each member waits for another. Do not hide a cycle by marking a blocked task completed. A visited set also prevents repeatedly traversing the same node.

A depends on B and B depends on A. The supplied graphlib example raises CycleError.

  1. 1. Step 1

    Draw the two opposing prerequisites.

    You should see: A→B→A is a cycle.

    This keeps the rule and its observable result together.

  2. 2. Step 2

    Attempt a topological order and record the exception type.

    You should see: CycleError identifies that no dependency-respecting order exists.

    This keeps the rule and its observable result together.

  3. 3. Step 3

    Remove B’s dependency on A only when the supplied policy permits it.

    You should see: B can precede A after that explicit rule revision.

    This keeps the rule and its observable result together.

  4. 4. Step 4

    Keep the failed and revised graphs and explain the changed rule.

    You should see: A cycle diagnosis and justified repair record.

    This keeps the rule and its observable result together.

Now change one thing

A depends on B; B has no prerequisites. Enter the first node.

Your work

What to finish

A cycle diagnosis and justified repair record.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Calling every repeated node a cycle; a shared predecessor can recur in a valid directed acyclic graph.

How can I tell I understand it?

Explain and demonstrate the required distinction: A cycle makes a prerequisite schedule impossible: each member waits for another. Do not hide a cycle by marking a blocked task completed. A visited set also prevents repeatedly traversing the same node. Show a changed input and the expected result without weakening this contract.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1What does CycleError establish in this case?
2Which repair is honest?
3What helps stop a traversal revisiting a node?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
5
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

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Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

docs.python.org — graphlib.html
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Relevant documented module/API behavior inspected during expansion authoring; actual execution evidence is recorded separately. No grant eligibility is established.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01. Documentation reading does not certify execution in every native tool or browser.

Reuse: Original local practice files, fictional data, worked examples and questions. Concepts paraphrased and linked; source exercises are not copied.

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