Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs [Paperback]

Ioannis G. Tollis (Author), Giuseppe Di Battista (Author), Peter Eades (Author), Roberto Tamassia (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0133016153 | ISBN-13: 978-0133016154 | Publication Date: July 23, 1998 | Edition: 1

This book is designed to describe fundamental algorithmic techniques for constructing drawings of graphs. Suitable as a book or reference manual, its chapters offer an accurate, accessible reflection of the rapidly expanding field of graph drawing.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This book is designed to describe fundamental algorithmic techniques for constructing drawings of graphs. Suitable as a book or reference manual, its chapters offer an accurate, accessible reflection of the rapidly expanding field of graph drawing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 397 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (July 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0133016153
• ISBN-13: 978-0133016154
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #826,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Theory .. but, December 2, 2000

By 

Gurooji (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs (Paperback)

The book has a solid theoretical explanation of most of the popular graph drawing algorithms. So, if you want an explanation of these algorithms from a mathematical point of view, this book is for you.

If you are like me, and want to approach these problems from an 'algorithmic' viewpoint. I.e I want to know how to write planarization, Orthogonal layout algorithms... This book will disappoint you big time...Most of the algorithms are presented in a mathematical form (not a psuedocode form).. It is a huge leap to convert algorithms in this book to code.

Overall, I rate this book a 3 because, it is the ONLY book on this subject. Therefore, I cant compare it with anything else.

My advice is :- math major = BUY, computer major = PASS, after all this book is not cheap -

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best book I can find on the topic, but not really that good, November 15, 2008

By 

Joe Blow "Joe Blow" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs (Paperback)

I'm giving this book 4 stars only because it is dramatically better than the other books that are available on this topic. If there were better competition I would give it 3 stars since it has a range of flaws. The major flaw has been mentioned by other reviewers; it gives only terse and highly mathematical descriptions of the algorithms and the effort to convert anything in this book into an actual algorithm is huge. However on the plus side, the book is mostly well written and is actually much *less* mathematical than almost every other book on the topic. Most other planar graph drawing books just lay down some formulas and assume implementation is obvious (very far from true in this topic). However, this book does at least give a nod to the algorithm side and lays out a general framework for an implementation of most of the important layout types. The book also gives a strong foundation for almost the entire field; probably because the authors represent some of the strongest contributors to this field. So the bottom line is that, as of today you almost have to buy this book if you want to work on this type of software since no other book comes close to explaining as much and does it as well as this book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not useful for me, maybe for other people, May 20, 2003

By 

Mark Van Peteghem (Ghent, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs (Paperback)

To me the book is not useful, because I need to draw graphs in which the distance between two connected vertices is fixed. The book doesn't mention any method to handle graphs with such a restriction, although the chapter on force-directed methods inspired me to use something similar. If you draw graphs without that restriction, the book might be useful to you - that's why I'm careful and give it 4 stars.

I disagree with Viv. R who said it doesn't contain pseudo code, because the book contains quite some of it, though not in every chapter. But even lack of pseudo code doesn't bother me, because for an experienced mathematical programmer that should be no problem.