Introduction :

Data structure is a organization or collection of data in a way, that it can be retrieved and used efficiently. They are implemented by writing a set of procedures that can create and manipulate them. They are generally based on the ability of computer to fetch the data by reading it's address, irrelevant of the sequence.

Types of DS :

There are two main types of data structures :

  1. Static -> Array, Stack, Queue
  2. Dynamic -> Linked List, Tree, Graph

Why DS :

  • It can store large amount of data.
  • It is well structured (as the name itself suggest), that makes retrieval of the data convenient.
  • Provides abstraction of information.
  • Dynamic implementation provide us with efficiency in managing memory space.

Applications :

  1. In making and maintaining databases : using B-trees.
  2. Compiler implementation : Hash tables.
  3. In internet indexing services : Hash tables.
  4. Backtracking and recursion : Stack.
  5. Resource sharing : Queue.
  6. Sorting and searching : Tree.
  7. Representation and implementation of networks : Graph.

References :