How to implement a binary search tree in Python?
This is what I've got so far but it is not working:
class Node:
rChild,lChild,data = None,None,None
def __init__(self,key):
self.rChild = None
self.lChild = None
self.data = key
class Tree:
root,size = None,0
def __init__(self):
self.root = None
self.size = 0
def insert(self,node,someNumber):
if node is None:
node = Node(someNumber)
else:
if node.data > someNumber:
self.insert(node.rchild,someNumber)
else:
self.insert(node.rchild, someNumber)
return
def main():
t = Tree()
t.root = Node(4)
t.root.rchild = Node(5)
print t.root.data #this works
print t.root.rchild.data #this works too
t = Tree()
t.insert(t.root,4)
t.insert(t.root,5)
print t.root.data #this fails
print t.root.rchild.data #this fails too
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Here is a quick example of a binary insert:
class Node:
def __init__(self, val):
self.l_child = None
self.r_child = None
self.data = val
def binary_insert(root, node):
if root is None:
root = node
else:
if root.data > node.data:
if root.l_child is None:
root.l_child = node
else:
binary_insert(root.l_child, node)
else:
if root.r_child is None:
root.r_child = node
else:
binary_insert(root.r_child, node)
def in_order_print(root):
if not root:
return
in_order_print(root.l_child)
print root.data
in_order_print(root.r_child)
def pre_order_print(root):
if not root:
return
print root.data
pre_order_print(root.l_child)
pre_order_print(root.r_child)
r = Node(3)
binary_insert(r, Node(7))
binary_insert(r, Node(1))
binary_insert(r, Node(5))
3
/ \
1 7
/
5
print "in order:"
in_order_print(r)
print "pre order"
pre_order_print(r)
in order:
1
3
5
7
pre order
3
1
7
5
class Node:
rChild,lChild,data = None,None,None
This is wrong - it makes your variables class variables - that is, every instance of Node uses the same values (changing rChild of any node changes it for all nodes!). This is clearly not what you want; try
class Node:
def __init__(self, key):
self.rChild = None
self.lChild = None
self.data = key
now each node has its own set of variables. The same applies to your definition of Tree,
class Tree:
root,size = None,0 # <- lose this line!
def __init__(self):
self.root = None
self.size = 0
Further, each class should be a "new-style" class derived from the "object" class and should chain back to object.__init__():
class Node(object):
def __init__(self, data, rChild=None, lChild=None):
super(Node,self).__init__()
self.data = data
self.rChild = rChild
self.lChild = lChild
class Tree(object):
def __init__(self):
super(Tree,self).__init__()
self.root = None
self.size = 0
Also, main() is indented too far - as shown, it is a method of Tree which is uncallable because it does not accept a self argument.
Also, you are modifying the object's data directly (t.root = Node(4)
) which kind of destroys encapsulation (the whole point of having classes in the first place); you should be doing something more like
def main():
t = Tree()
t.add(4) # <- let the tree create a data Node and insert it
t.add(5)