2.

Introduction to Data Structures

Mbuke, Juliana L.
 Topics covered
• Types of data
• Classification of data structures
• Data structures operations
• Storage methods

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 Data

• For any computation, we required data to be processed

by the system. It may be a single value or a set of values.

• Further data is classified into two categories namely;

– Primitive data
– Referred as simple or primary data

– Non-Primitive data
– Referred as structured data

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 Data categories

• Primitive data
– This data is operating directly upon machine level instructions. For
example, a variable which is of type integer, float, character or double
can be called as primitive data.
– All these variables can hold only a single value.

• Non-Primitive data
– This data is constructed with the help of primitive data type and are
sometimes called user defined data type, that is a user may select
number of memory locations needed to store particular data.
– These data types are also called data structures. For example arrays,
pointers, lists, stacks, queue, trees, graphs, heaps etc.

» Enum and typedef are part of this data type

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 Classification of data structures

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 Data structures

• Data may be organized in many different ways. Possible ways in which

data items/elements are logically related will define different data
structures.
• The logical or mathematical model of a particular organization and/or
storage of data is called a data structure. It may also be defined as a
scheme for organizing data in a memory of a computer.
• Algorithm
• A high level, language independent description of a step-by-step process for
solving a problem
• Computer program
• Refers to creating a sequence of instructions to enable the computer to do
something
• The way in which the data is organized affects the performance of a program
for different tasks

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 Classification

Data structures are divided into two categories namely

– Linear data structures
• Can be constructed as a continuous arrangement of data elements in
a memory. They are stored in a form of sequence. Arrays, Lists,
Stacks, etc, are examples of linear data structures
• The relationship of adjacency in this data structure is maintained
between data elements

– Non-linear data structures

• Can be constructed as a randomly distributed set of data elements
joined together. Examples of this data structure includes Trees and
Graphs
• The relationship of adjacency in this data structure is not maintained
between data elements
In this class we will discuss data structures mechanisms as well as their implementation using C++

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 Data structures operations

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 Operations

• There are six basic operations that can be performed

on data structure:
• Traversing
• Searching
• Sorting
• Inserting
• Deleting and
• Merging

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 Cont… Operations

• Traversing
– means accessing and processing each element in the data
structure exactly once.
– This operation is used for counting the number of elements,
printing the contents of the elements etc.

• Searching
– is finding out the location of a given element from a set of
numbers.

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 Cont… Operations

• Sorting
– is the process of arranging a list of elements in a sequential
order.
– The sequential order may be descending order or an
ascending order according to the requirements of the data
structure.

• Inserting
– is adding an element in the data structure at any position.

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 Cont… Operations

• Deleting
– is removing an element in the data structure at any
position.
– After deletion operation the number of elements are
decreased by one.

• Merging
– The process of combining the elements of two data
structures into a single data structure.

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 Structures operations

• The Organize data to emphasize these operations to be

effective

• Data structures shall take minimal space and minimal

time to execute

• Perform data structure operations through a step by step

procedure i.e. Algorithm.

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 Storage methods

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 Types of storage

• The main purpose of data structure is to store some data

or to organize data in a particular form.

• There are two ways to represent data structures (linear

and non-linear) storage in a computer memory. One is
called sequential allocation storage method and another is
linked allocation storage method.

• These storage methods are also called as static allocation

and dynamic allocation respectively.

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 Cont...

• If the elements are stored in the consecutive memory

locations, they are known as sequential allocation
method. That is internally it is stored as a dimensional
array

• If the elements are stored in different memory locations,

They are known as linked allocation method, and
links/pointers give the linear order. In this storage
method, memory is allocated at run time.

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