Editing Routing (section)

===Link-state algorithms===
{{main|Link-state routing protocol}}
When applying link-state algorithms, a [[Graph (discrete mathematics)|graphical map]] of the network is the fundamental data used for each node. To produce its map, each node floods the entire network with information about the other nodes it can connect to.  Each node then independently assembles this information into a map. Using this map, each router independently determines the least-cost path from itself to every other node using a standard [[shortest paths]] algorithm such as [[Dijkstra's algorithm]]. The result is a [[tree graph]] rooted at the current node, such that the path through the tree from the root to any other node is the least-cost path to that node. This tree then serves to construct the routing table, which specifies the best next hop to get from the current node to any other node.