Data structure

In computer science, a data structure is a particular way of storing and organizing data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently. Different kinds of data structures are suited to different kinds of applications, and some are highly specialized to specific tasks. For example B-tree. Data structures are used in almost every program or software system. Data structures provide a means to manage huge amounts of data efficiently, such as large databases and internet indexing services. Usually, efficient data structures are a key to designing efficient algorithms.

Basic principles
Data structures are generally based on the ability of a computer to fetch and store data at any place in its memory, specified by an address a bit string that can be itself stored in memory and manipulated by the program. Thus the record and array data structures are based on computing the addresses of data items with arithmetic operations; while the linked data structures are based on storing addresses of data items within the structure itself.

Common data structures

Common data structures include: array, linked list, hashtable, heap, Tree (Binary Tree, B-tree, red-black tree, trie or prefix tree), stack, and queue.

Linked data structure

In computer science, a linked data structure is a data structure which consists of a set of data records (nodes) linked together and organized by references (links or pointers). In linked data structures, the links are usually treated as special data types that can only be dereferenced or compared for equality. Linked data structures are thus contrasted with arrays and other data structures that require performing arithmetic operations on pointers. This distinction holds even when the nodes are actually implemented as elements of a single array, and the references are actually array indices: as long as no arithmetic is done on those indices, the data structure is essentially a linked one. Linked data structures include linked lists, search trees, expression trees, and many other widely used data structures.

Succinct data structure

In computer science, a succinct data structure is data structure which uses an amount of space that is "close" to the information-theoretic lower bound, but (unlike other compressed representations) still allows for efficient query operations.

Implicit data structure

In computer science, an implicit data structure is a data structure that uses very little memory besides the actual data elements. It is called "implicit" because most of the structure of the elements is expressed implicitly by their order. Another term used interchangeably is space efficient. Definitions of very little is vague and can mean from O(1) to O(log n) extra space. Implicit data structures are frequently also succinct data structures. Examples of implicit data structures include Heap Beap

Compressed data structure

The term compressed data structure arises in the computer science subfields of algorithms, data structures,

and theoretical computer science. It refers to a data structure whose operations are roughly as fast as those of a conventional data structure for the problem, but whose size can be substantially smaller. The size of the compressed data structure is typically highly dependent upon the entropy of the data being represented.

Search data structure

In computer science, a search data structure is any data structure that allows the efficient retrieval of specific items from a set of items, such as a specific record from a database. The simplest, most general, and least efficient search structure is merely an unordered sequential list of all the items. Locating the desired item in such a list, by the linear search method, inevitably requires a number of operations proportional to the number n of items, in the worst case as well as in the average case. Useful search data structures allow faster retrieval; however, they are limited to queries of some specific kind.

Static and dynamic data structures

In computer science, a static data structure is a data structure created for an input data set which is not supposed to change within the scope of the problem.

When a single element is to be added or deleted, the update of a static data structure incurs significant costs, often comparable with the construction of the data structure from scratch. In real applications, dynamic data structures are used, which allow for efficient updates when data elements are inserted or deleted.