BFS
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Programming
| Stands for | Breadth-first search |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
BFS stands for Breadth-first search, a programming abbreviation.
A graph traversal algorithm that visits all neighbors of a node before moving further away, using a queue. In unweighted graphs it finds shortest paths, which makes it useful for routing, puzzles and social-network distances.
Example: BFS from the start cell gives the minimum number of moves through the grid.
Usage notes
Konrad Zuse described the idea in 1945, and Edward F. Moore published it in 1959 for finding shortest paths through mazes. It uses more memory than depth-first search because it stores the whole frontier. Dijkstra's algorithm generalizes it to weighted graphs.
Related abbreviations
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