Add Suffix Tree

[prshnt19]

Description of the problem

Example of the problem

References/Other comments

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix_tree

[subhangi2731]

can you please assign this issue to me? @prshnt19

[prshnt19]

Please read https://github.com/codezonediitj/pydatastructs/wiki/Issue-Policy

[czgdp1807]

Thanks @prshnt19 for sharing the issue policy.
@subhangi2731 I'd request you to go through https://github.com/codezonediitj/pydatastructs/wiki/Plan-of-Action-for-Adding-New-Data-Structures since requires adding a new adding new data structure from scratch.

[Arvind-raj06]

Let me take up this one @czgdp1807

[czgdp1807]

Sure.

[Arvind-raj06]

suffix
I believe the API design would be like the below part

__new__(cls, array_flag = 0, key=None, root_data=None)

This would initialise a new suffix tree.

Rest of the parameters will be same as other tree implementation.

insert(self, key, data)
delete(self, key, **kwargs)
__str__(self)

height(self)
Will return the height of the tree.

Additional features

longest_common_substring
This method will return the longest common substring from the string comparison with tree

longest_repeated_substring
This method will return the longest repeated substring from the string comparison with tree

[czgdp1807]

Can you pick example where suffix tree is used and show how above APIs will be used in that example? There might be an example on Wikipedia or some other website.

[Arvind-raj06]

https://www.cise.ufl.edu/~sahni/dsaaj/enrich/c16/suffix.htm hope in this site we get the example with analyzation
and implementation example is as https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/ukkonens-suffix-tree-construction-part-6/?ref=rp

[Arvind-raj06]

As suffix tree isn't like any other binary tree i hope it has to be implemented in separate file and shall I go on with that @czgdp1807

[czgdp1807]

Following are the questions and concerns,

1. Is Suffix tree static or dynamic? In other words, is it possible to update it after constructing it from a string/set of strings? Or once created, it can be changed? Can you provide university lectures/papers which provide algorithms updating a suffix tree. I am unable to find anything relevant on Wikipedia or in this document.
2. As of now we should go for implementing the applications in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix_tree#Applications as methods of the SuffixTree class. Later on once we suffix tree is added, more features can be added given in, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix_tree#Implementation

Comments on API

new(cls, array_flag = 0, key=None, root_data=None)

I feel that this is a bit complicated. Most of the literature writes about creating suffix trees from a set of strings. So, the API should be as simple as,

__new__(cls, strings)

strings should be an iterable(list, set, tuple, arrays, etc).

insert(self, key, data)
delete(self, key, **kwargs)

This depends on whether we want to keep static or dynamic. If there are algorithms for updating a dynamic trees then we can go for it. However, what is meant by key? Shouldn't it be simply a string.

height(self)
Will return the height of the tree.

Why do we need it? Mostly suffix trees are used to perform queries on strings, so this method may not provide very useful information. Any examples where height can be required by the end user?

longest_common_substring
This method will return the longest common substring from the string comparison with tree

longest_repeated_substring
This method will return the longest repeated substring from the string comparison with tree

They both should accept strings (set of strings or a single string should be decided upon). More features given in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix_tree#Applications should also be added.