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. The optimized candidate list processing may be, for example, such that the candidate list processing operates on a candidate list of nodes that is stored in a generic format, as a Fibonacci heap of Fibonacci nodes in a generic format that is independent of the link-state protocol. Furthermore, the candidate list processing may be accessible via a generic application programming interface (API). As a result, the candidate list processing is useable for various link-state protocols, including various link-state routing protocols such as OSPF and IS-IS.