Cfrgtkky

For the desired output curriculum/course tree below, what is the best approach to reproduce the same conceivable (i.e. to recognize the course prerequisites) output using latex without the need to draw it myself manually?

In other words, is it possible to find a way to define my input to be: (a) the courses names, (b) their prerequisites, and (c) their parent level, while latex optimizes the courses/nodes placement and connects each course with its prerequisites?

Not an answer but to tell you how much effort it would be to draw this one by hand. I hope to see another, more automatic answer and thus learn something new.

documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]{standalone}

usetikzlibrary{positioning,fit}

begin{document}

begin{tikzpicture}[course/.style={draw,minimum width=2cm,minimum

height=8mm,node contents={Course #1},name=n#1},

font=sffamily,node distance=2cm and 1cm]

node[course=1];

node[right=of n1,course=2];

node[right=of n2,course=3];

node[below=of n1,course=5];

node[right=of n5,course=6];

node[right=1.8cm of n6,course=4];

%

node[below=of n5,course=9];

node[right=2.3cm of n9,course=7];

node[right=of n7,course=8];

node[below right=2cm and -0.5cm of n9,course=10];

node[right=1.8cm of n10,course=11];

node[right=of n11,course=12];

%

begin{scope}[thick]

draw (n1) -- (n5) coordinate[midway] (aux1)

(n6.140) |- (aux1) (n2) -- (n6) 

(n6.-40) coordinate(aux2) -- (n7.north -| aux2)

(n3.-155) coordinate(aux3) -- (n7.north -| aux3)

(n9.-35) coordinate(aux4) -- (n10.north -| aux4)

(n12.40) |- (n4)

(n7.south) -- ++ (0,-0.4) coordinate(aux5) -| (n10)

(aux5) -| (n12);

%

node[fit=(n1) (n4),inner xsep=8mm,inner ysep=2mm] (fit1){};

draw ([xshift=2mm]fit1.south west) -| (fit1.north west)

node[pos=0.75,left=3mm,font=sffamilybfseries]{Level 1} -- ++(2mm,0);

%

node[fit=(n9) (n12),inner xsep=8mm,inner ysep=2mm] (fit2){};

draw ([xshift=2mm]fit2.south west) -| (fit2.north west)

node[pos=0.75,left=3mm,font=sffamilybfseries]{Level 2} -- ++(2mm,0);

end{scope}

end{tikzpicture} 

end{document}