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Data Structures Expanded

Data structures are formats for organizing and storing data, crucial for efficient software applications. Key types include arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, heaps, graphs, and hash tables, each with unique properties and use cases. Understanding their operations and complexities is essential for optimizing algorithm efficiency.

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7 views3 pages

Data Structures Expanded

Data structures are formats for organizing and storing data, crucial for efficient software applications. Key types include arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, heaps, graphs, and hash tables, each with unique properties and use cases. Understanding their operations and complexities is essential for optimizing algorithm efficiency.

Uploaded by

Tim
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Data Structures

Data structures are specialized formats for organizing, processing, and storing data. They enable

efficient access and modification, forming the backbone of software applications.

Arrays are collections of elements stored in contiguous memory locations. They offer fast access

using indices but are fixed in size.

Linked lists consist of nodes, each containing data and a pointer to the next node. They offer

dynamic memory use and easy insertion/deletion but slower access.

Stacks are linear structures following LIFO (Last In, First Out). They're used in undo operations,

expression parsing, and recursion.


Queues follow FIFO (First In, First Out). They're used in scheduling, buffering, and breadth-first

search algorithms.

Trees are hierarchical structures. Binary trees have nodes with two children. Binary Search Trees

(BST) maintain sorted data. AVL trees are self-balancing BSTs.

Heaps are specialized trees used in priority queues. Max-heaps keep the largest element at the

root, while min-heaps keep the smallest.

Graphs represent relationships between entities. They consist of vertices (nodes) and edges

(connections). Graphs can be directed or undirected, weighted or unweighted.


Hash tables store data in key-value pairs for quick access. Hash functions map keys to indices, and

collisions are handled via chaining or open addressing.

Complex structures include tries (prefix trees) for efficient string searching, and segment trees for

range queries.

Data structure operations include insertion, deletion, traversal, and searching. Each operation has

time and space complexity.

Choosing the right data structure is crucial for algorithm efficiency. Time complexity is analyzed

using Big O notation (e.g., O(1), O(n log n)).

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