The data structure name indicates itself that organizing the data in memory. There are many ways of organizing the data in the memory as we have already seen one of the data structures, i.e., array in C language. Array is a collection of memory elements in which data is stored sequentially, i.e., one after another. In other words, we can say that array stores the elements in a continuous manner. This organization of data is done with the help of an array of data structures. There are also other ways to organize the data in memory. To structure the data in memory, ‘n’ number of algorithms were proposed, and all these algorithms are known as Abstract data types. These abstract data types are the set of rules.
Types of Data structure
There are two types of data structures:
- Primitive data structure
- Non-primitive data structure
Primitive Data structure
The primitive data structures are primitive data types. The int, char, float, double, and pointer are the primitive data structures that can hold a single value.
Non-Primitive Data structure
The non-primitive data structure is divided into two types:
- Linear data structure
- Non-linear data structure
Linear Data Structure
The arrangement of data in a sequential manner is known as a linear data structure. The data structures used for this purpose are Arrays, Linked list, Stacks, and Queues. In these data structures, one element is connected to only one another element in a linear form.
Non- Linear Structure:
When one element is connected to the ‘n’ number of elements known as a non- linear data structure. The best example is trees and graphs. In this case, the elements are arranged in a random manner.
Major Operations
The major or the common operations that can be performed on the data structures are:
- Searching: We can search for any element in a data structure.
- Sorting: We can sort the elements of a data structure either in an ascending or descending order.
- Insertion: We can also insert the new element in a data structure.
- Updation: We can also update the element, i.e., we can replace the element with another element.
- Deletion: We can also perform the delete operation to remove the element from the data structure.
Advantages of Data structures
The following are the advantages of a data structure:
- Efficiency: If the choice of a data structure for implementing a particular ADT is proper, it makes the program very efficient in terms of time and space.
- Reusability: The data structure provides reusability means that multiple client programs can use the data structure.
Abstraction: The data structure specified by an ADT also provides the level of abstraction. The client cannot see the internal working of the data structure, so it does not have to worry about the implementation part. The client can