What are common failure modes of DFS Cycle Detection (Directed Graph)?

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Quick interview answer

Common failures around DFS Cycle Detection (Directed Graph): blocking the hot path, ignoring backpressure, and weak timeout/retry design. Using two-color visited only (misses cross edges in undirected); forgetting disconnected components.

Detailed answer

Failure modes for DFS Cycle Detection (Directed Graph): Known pitfalls: Using two-color visited only (misses cross edges in undirected); forgetting disconnected components. • Missing timeouts / unbounded retries • No backpressure when downstream slows • Assuming ordering/guarantees the runtime does not provide How seniors prevent them: Loop all nodes as DFS roots; explain gray = active recursion path. Parent context: Mitigate first, then root-cause. Check symptoms against: Using two-color visited only (misses cross edges in undirected); forgetting disconnected components..

Full explanation

Name concrete failure modes and the mitigation for each — that scores higher than a vague “it can fail.” Three-color DFS: white=unvisited, gray=in current stack, black=done. Back edge to gray node ⇒ cycle. Works for dependency graphs and course prerequisites.

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Parent context — DFS Cycle Detection (Directed Graph)

Mitigate first, then root-cause. Check symptoms against: Using two-color visited only (misses cross edges in undirected); forgetting disconnected components..

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