Diagramming Self-Reference

We consider how the Graphviz plugin deals with recursion often present in hypertexts.

We describe a graph that looks three links beyond the current node and find that the plugin follows these finite instructions without regard for duplication and thus adds three redundant arrows to the graph.

DOT digraph HERE NODE LINKS HERE -> NODE HERE NODE LINKS HERE -> NODE HERE NODE LINKS HERE -> NODE

Redundant arrows show up often. Graphviz offers the variation it calls "strict" to collapse these into a single arrow.

DOT strict digraph HERE NODE LINKS HERE -> NODE HERE NODE LINKS HERE -> NODE HERE NODE LINKS HERE -> NODE