Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

Sets

Dr. Zahid Halim

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

A Bit-Vector Implementation of Sets

 A Bit-Vector (Boolean Array) can be used if all the sets in the
domain are subsets of a small “universal set”, whose elements are
the integers 1,….N for some fixed N.

 A Set is represented by a bit-vector in which the ith bit is true if i is

an element of the set.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

A Bit-Vector Implementation of Sets

 MEMBER, INSERT and DELETE operations can be performed in
constant time by directly addressing the appropriate bit.

 UNION, INTERSECTION and DIFFERENCE can be performed in

time proportional to the size of the universal set.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

A Bit-Vector Implementation of Sets

 Bit-Vector implementation can be used when the universal set is a
finite set other than a set of consecutive integers.

 A mapping would be required to translate the set members to the

integers 1,….N

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

Linked-List Implementation of Sets

 The Items of the linked-list are the members of the set.

 Linked-list uses space proportional to the size of the set

represented, not the universal set.

 Linked-List can represent the sets where the universal set is infinite.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

Intersection in Unsorted List

 An element is in the intersection of lists L1 and L2 if and only if it is
on both lists.

 In unsorted lists, we must match each element of L1 with each

element on L2.

 The process will take O(n2) steps on lists of length n.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

Intersection in Sorted List

To Match an element e on one list L1 with the elements of another
list L2, look down L2 until;

 Either find e, that is the match has been found.

 Or, find an element greater than e, which indicates the match does
not exist.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

Assign in Sorted List

 A=B
 Copy all elements in B to A.

 Cannot be implemented by pointing the header cell of A to the

header cell of B.

 Subsequent, changes in B will result in unexpected changes in A.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

Union in Sorted List

 C=AB
 Attach all the elements from either A or B list to the C list, in their proper,
sorted order.

 Compare the elements of A with B.

 If the elements are equal add once to C.

 If the elements are unequal, add the elements from the smaller element’s list
until a larger element is found.

 If one list exhausts, append the elements of the other list as it is.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi

Lecture 12: Sets Data Structures

Other Operations
 MIN: Return the first element on the list.

 FIND: Search through the list and return when the target element is found.

 DELETE: Same as FIND but dispose of the target element.

 INSERTION: Find out the position of the element to be inserted in order, and
then change the pointers appropriately.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi