Data structures in C++: In this technology-dominant world, knowing data structures is very much important. To optimize your code and make it effective, you need to know the essential data structures such as Array, linked list, heap, tree, graph, stack, queue, etc. Data structures make coding accessible and also save a lot of our time.
This article will teach us about some of the most important data structures and their uses. You just need to read the complete article to understand different types of data structures better.
What Are Data Structures in C++?
Data structures in programming are responsible for organizing and storing the data to effectively manage, store, and retrieve the data in very little time. It makes searching, sorting, insertion, and deletion efficient. Data structures like an array, linked lists, trees, and graphs form the foundation of algorithms and help programmers solve complex algorithms optimally.
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What Is the Use of Data Structures?
Data structures in programming serve as the backbone of computer programming. It provides a systematic and effective way to manage, store, and retrieve data. Data structures in programming play a vital role in increasing the efficiency of software applications. It also provides an optimized code for the algorithms. For example, with the help of a linked list, we can have dynamic memory allocation, unlike an array, which only provides continuous memory allocations.
By selecting appropriate data structures in programming, you can quickly improve the performance of your algorithm and make it faster and more efficient. Necessary operations like searching and sorting heavily depend on the data structures, with little time complexity.
Types of Data Structures in Programming
Let us now check out some of computer science’s major types of data structures.
1. Array
An array is a data structure that helps store a collection of the same type of elements under a single variable name. It is used when we want to work with a large set of similar data. In C++, arrays are declared by specifying the type of elements they will have, followed by the array’s name and the array’s size in a square bracket.
Syntax:
Data Type Array Name [ Array Size];
| Array in Data Structures |
| #include <iostream>
using namespace std; int main() { int numbers[5];
numbers[0] = 1; numbers[1] = 3; numbers[2] = 5; numbers[3] = 7; numbers[4] = 9;
for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i) { cout << “Element at index ” << i << “: ” << numbers[i] << endl;
}
return 0; } |
| Output |
| Element at index 0: 1
Element at index 1: 3 Element at index 2: 5 Element at index 3: 7 Element at index 4: 9 |
It allows efficient access to elements using their index and is also memory efficient.
2. Linked List
A linked list is a data structure where elements are stored as nodes. In this data structure, elements need not be arranged in a continuous manner. Each node is made of two parts. The first one contains the data, and the second one pointer to the next node. They are generally used when we do not know the size of the data set or it keeps changing frequently.
- It promotes dynamic sizing, which helps in insertion and deletion in efficient manner.
- Unlike an array, the size of linked list does not need to be fixed. It can accommodate changing sizes of data easily.
- It helps to optimize memory by using only the space in which data is present. Hence, there is no need for pre-allocated block of memory.
- It is widely used in implementing stacks, queues, and trees, as it provides efficient insertion and deletion.
3. Stack
A stack is a fundamental data structure in C++ that follows the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle. Hence, in stack, the element that comes last will pop out first. It mainly has two main operation, push and pop. The push operation is used to insert data into stack, and pop element is used to remove data from the top of stack. It is used for various applications such as managing recursion, function calls, expressions, history, etc.
| Stack In Data Structure |
| #include <iostream>
#include <stack> using namespace std; int main() { stack<int> s; s.push(5); s.push(2); s.push(7);
cout << “Top element: ” << s.top() << endl;
s.pop(); cout << “Stack after pop operation: “;
while (!s.empty()) { cout << s.top() << ” “; s.pop(); } return 0; } |
stack <data type> stack Name: It is used to create a stack of the desired name and data type.
push(x): It is used to push an element x into the stack.
pop( ): It is used to pop the top element out of the stack.
4. Queue
A Queue is a data structure that follows the principle of First In First Out (FIFO). There are two main operations in a queue, enqueue and dequeue. In enqueue operation, elements are added at the back of queue, while in the dequeue operation, elements are removed from the front. It is used in implementing breadth first search algorithms, job scheduling algorithms, creating binary tree, etc.
queue <data type> Name
| Queue in Data Structures |
| #include <iostream>
#include <queue> using namespace std; int main() { queue<int> q;
q.push(3); q.push(8); q.push(5); cout << “Front element: ” << q.front() << endl;
q.pop(); cout << “Queue after dequeue operation: “;
while (!q.empty()) { cout << q.front() << ” “; q.pop(); } return 0; } |
| Output |
| Front element: 3
Queue after dequeue operation: 8 5 |
5. Hash Table
A hash table is a data structure that works on key and value pairs. It uses hash function to calculate an index into an array to find the desired value inside it. It offers effective insertion, deletion, and searching in very little time. It also is used in various applications such as data base indexing, caching, symbol tables in compilers, etc.
It provides constant time average complexity for major operations like insertion, deletion, and searching, which makes it a important data structure. It can handle a large amount of data and provide faster access to the stored values inside it. Also, proper collision resolution is important to maintain the efficiency of hash table.
6. Tree
A tree is a hierarchical data structure that contains nodes connected with the help of edges. Each tree has a root node, and every other node is connected to it. Except for the root node, every node has a parent node. There are various applications in which tree data structures are used in computer science. Some of them are database indexing, file systems, organizing hierarchical informations, etc.
It provides an efficient way to store and search data. There are various types of trees, such as binary tree, B trees, AVL trees, Binary search trees, etc.
7. Graph
A graph is a data structure that consists of vertices and a collection of edges that connect these nodes. The nodes in a graph represent entities, and the edges represent the relationships between these entities.
Graphs represent powerful relationships and dependencies. They help to implement various algorithms, such as breadth first search and depth first search, to traverse and explore relationships effectively. Due to their flexibility, they are used to solve a wide range of real-world problems.
8. Binary Search Tree
A Binary search tree is an extension of a binary tree. It consists of a maximum of two nodes. In this arrangement, smaller elements lie on one side of the tree and larger ones on the other. It helps make this data structure more effective and precise.
9. Tries
A Trie data structure is a tree-like data structure that is used to store strings where keys are in the form of strings. Each node is a single character, and the path from the root to a particular node represents a prefix. It can usually be seen in autocomplete features in search engines and spelling correction algorithms.
They provide efficient insertion, deletion, and searching operations in O(n) time complexity, where n is the length of the key.
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10 Most Important Data Structures FAQs
What are data structures in C++?
Data structures are backbone of computer programming, which helps to store, manage, and retrieve data in effective way. It optimizes algorithms and enhances software applications.
What are the major types of data structures?
Some of the major types of data structures in C++ are array, linked list, stacks, queues, trees, graphs, hash tables, etc. However, you can check them out in detail in this article.
Which is better, a linked list or an array?
Linked list is used when the size of data set is not fixed or keeps changing.
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