A topological order is particularly useful for which practical purpose?

• A. Task sequencing with dependencies
• B. Finding cycles
• C. Sorting by node weights
• D. Computing shortest paths

Answer: (A)

Topological order gives you a linear sequence of tasks that respects dependencies: if one task must precede another, the prerequisite appears earlier in the sequence. This makes it ideal for task sequencing with dependencies because you can follow the order and be confident that every prerequisite is completed before the dependent task starts. In practice, this is exactly what you need in build systems, where modules must be compiled after their dependencies, or in project planning with prerequisite steps. The other ideas aren’t as directly useful for this purpose: cycles can be detected or avoided only as a byproduct of ordering, while sorting by weights or finding shortest paths don’t address ordering tasks under dependency constraints.