Data Structure
A data structure organizes data for specific operations. It is like a blueprint that shows how data is connected and organized.
To understand this better, we'll create a data structure of our own.
Imagine we are part of a vibrant book club that shares and discusses our favorite reads. We want to store the titles of the books we've read in our computer. Talia, one of our enthusiastic members, suggests we create a data structure to help us manage this collection. Here are some key requirements: Since our club has a steady membership and we don't frequently add or remove books, we can store our data in a contiguous block of memory. We need quick and efficient access to our book titles, so each entry will be assigned a unique index number. This way, we can easily retrieve any book title using its index. To keep things simple, we will only store the titles of the books in our data structure, meaning only strings are allowed.
The data structure that meets all these requirements is called an array. We'll dive deeper into arrays in the upcoming sections!
In a computer, 'data' is ultimately represented as a sequence of zeros and ones (bits), but this representation is too low level for the human beings operating that computer to discern. Hence, we have data structures that are closer to the way humans can understand and visualize the structure of this data. This is because it is humans who have to develop and maintain the software systems - computers merely run them.
Operations on Data Structures
Data structures need to have certain operations that help us to modify or access the content. These operations include:
- Traversal: This involves accessing each element of an array in a sequential order, either from start to end or vice versa.
- Insertion: This is the process of adding a new element to an array. The new element can be inserted at the beginning, end, or any other position within the array, depending on the application. Existing elements may shift to accommodate the new element.
- Deletion: This operation involves removing an existing element from an array. Similar to insertion, an element can be deleted from any position within the array, and existing elements may shift to fill the gap.
- Search: This process involves finding a specific element within an array by comparing the target element with each element in the array until a match is found.
- Sorting: This operation involves arranging elements in a specific order.