Abstract: In accordance with an aspect of the invention, one or more shortest paths is determined through a portion of a computer network, from a source vertex to one or more destination vertices according to a link-state protocol. A graph representation of the network portion is processed. The graph representation includes nodes and edges representing the vertices and connections therebetween. The processing includes operating on the graph representation according to a Djkstra-like algorithm. A subset of the Djkstra-like algorithm processing includes candidate list processing, to maintain and operate upon a candidate list (OSPF, IS-IS) of nodes that have been visited in the Djkstra-like algorithm processing. Finally, the candidate list processing is optimized relative to standard Djkstra algorithm processing for the link-state protocol.