The goal of this thesis is to study the algorithms employed in the toolkit GraphViz (especially the algorithms used by the tool 'dot') and implement the 'dot' algorithm (or a variant thereof) as a C++ API. The outcome of the thesis should be a reusable library which allows the user to incrementally describe a (directed) graph by adding vertices and edges using API calls. The library should then return an abstract, programmatically accessible description of the layout of the graph in a plane. This description should be independent of the employed display device (screen, graphics file, etc.) and should therefore only use a coordinate system, not a specific graphics library. Interpreting the coordinates of vertices and control points of edges is up to the client of the library. The thesis should contain at least one ‘reference’ implementation of a client for the library, which would output a graphics file or display the rendered graph on the screen, using a graphics library chosen by the student. Evaluation should include a comparison of the output from the library with the output of the tool 'dot' from the GraphViz package. The student should select suitable small and medium-sized evaluation graphs (on the order of tens to hundreds of vertices).