Everything about Data Structure totally explained
In
computer science, a
data structure is a way of storing
data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently. Often a carefully chosen data structure will allow the most
efficient algorithm to be used. The choice of the data structure often begins from the choice of an
abstract data type. A well-designed data structure allows a variety of critical operations to be performed, using as few resources, both execution time and memory space, as possible. Data structures are implemented by a
programming language as
data types and the
references and operations they provide.
Different kinds of data structures are suited to different kinds of applications, and some are highly specialized to certain tasks. For example,
B-trees are particularly well-suited for implementation of databases, while networks of machines rely on
routing tables to function.
In the design of many types of
programs, the choice of data structures is a primary design consideration, as experience in building large systems has shown that the difficulty of implementation and the quality and performance of the final result depends heavily on choosing the best data structure. After the data structures are chosen, the
algorithms to be used often become relatively obvious. Sometimes things work in the opposite direction - data structures are chosen because certain key tasks have algorithms that work best with particular data structures. In either case, the choice of appropriate data structures is crucial.
This insight has given rise to many formalised design methods and
programming languages in which data structures, rather than algorithms, are the key organising factor. Most
languages feature some sort of
module system, allowing data structures to be safely reused in different applications by hiding their verified implementation details behind controlled interfaces.
Object-oriented programming languages such as
C++ and
Java in particular use
classes for this purpose.
Since data structures are so crucial, many of them are included in standard libraries of modern
programming languages and
environments, such as
C++'s
Standard Template Library containers, the
Java Collections Framework, and the Microsoft
.NET Framework.
The fundamental building blocks of most data structures are
arrays,
records,
discriminated unions, and
references. For example, the nullable reference, a reference which can be null, is a combination of references and discriminated unions, and the simplest linked data structure, the
linked list, is built from records and nullable references.
Data structures represent
implementations or
interfaces: A data structure can be viewed as an interface between two functions or as an implementation of methods to access storage that's organized according to the associated
data type.
Further Information
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