Linked Lists as a Data Structure

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Arrays Versus Linked List
Types of Linked Lists in Data Structure
Basic Operations on a List
Conclusion
References

Introduction

A linear data structure called a linked list is used to store groupings of information as a series of endpoints. Each packet contains two items in a linked list: data and the node’s address. The linked list begins with a HEAD, which designates the beginning or the location in memory of the first node (Introduction to Linked List, 2013). The final node of a linked list points to a NULL value. In contrast to an array, the elements are randomly stored rather than in consecutive memory places. The linked list is an essential structure since it can add any number of items due to random memory location-allocation, which prevents memory waste.

Arrays Versus Linked List

The fact that items in arrays are stored close to one another in memory, resulting in easily calculable positions for the constituents stored, enables a faster approach to retrieving an item at a specific index. Because the storage structure of linked lists is less strict and the components are typically not stored near one another, it is necessary to store the elements with additional tags that refer to the following elements (Data Structures: Arrays Vs. Linked Lists, 2013). The data structure that would be better appropriate for a particular case depends on the distinction in the data storage technique. Since data can only be in consecutive memory blocks in an array, designers cannot alter it at runtime for fear of overwriting existing data. A linked list linked list, on the other hand, supports a dynamic length that can change at runtime and allows data to live in scattered (non-contiguous) regions since each node connects to the one after it.

Types of Linked Lists in Data Structure

Singly, Doubly, and Circular Linked Lists are the three available varieties of Linked Lists. The term “linked list” typically refers to a single linked list. Each node has some data and a reference in the sequence with the same data type. The Doubly Linked Lists are two-way linked lists that, as their name implies, contain pointers to the prior and following nodes in the sequence. Circular Linked Lists move in a circular motion, enabling users to start at any node and move forward or backward through the list until they reencounter the same node. The pointer to the list’s first node is found in the circular linked list’s last node. Therefore, this kind of list has no beginning or end.

Basic Operations on a List

The three fundamental operations on a list are traversing through a linked list, adding items, and removing them. Traversing a linked list entails accessing its nodes and performing operations on them (“#5 Linked List Implementation in Java Part 1 | Data Structures”, 2017). Three scenarios exist for adding an element to a linked list: a new node in the middle, a new node at the end, and a new node before the HEAD. A new node is added before the current HEAD node when a node is introduced at the start of the linked list. Only the New node’s next pointer needs to be changed.

Conclusion

The “LinkedList” class in Java implements the linked list. The LinkedList class has several traits, including that it is not synchronized, permits duplicate values, and keeps the insertion order. Elements can be manipulated more quickly since they do not need to be moved while moving. A stack, queue, and list can be implemented with this class. A LinkedList can be represented in Java as a class with each node’s class. This class will therefore reference the Node type.