Abstract Data Types (ADTs) Fundamentals

Abstract Data Types (ADTs)

• Solving a problem involves processing data and careful organization of the data to identify the collection of data items and basic operations that must be performed on them.
• An ADT is a collection of data items together with the operations on the data.
• The word "abstract" refers to studying data and basic operations independently of their implementation.
• Focus on what can be done with the data, not how it is done.

Implementation of ADT

• Consists of storage structures to store the data items and algorithms for basic operations.
• Example: Airplane flight with 10 seats to be assigned, where tasks involve listing available seats and reserving a seat.

Data Structures, Abstract Data Types, and Implementations

• Data Structures and Abstract Data Type are often used interchangeably.
• ADT is used when data is studied at a logical level.
• Data structure refers to a construct in programming language used to store data.

Array ADT

• A collection of data elements: a fixed-size sequence of elements, all of the same type.
• Basic operations: direct access to each element in the array by specifying its position.
• One-dimensional array: only one index is used.
• Multi-dimensional array: array involving more than one index.
• Static array: the compiler determines how memory will be allocated for the array.
• Dynamic array: memory allocation takes place during execution.

Array Syntax and Examples

• One-Dimensional Static Array Syntax: CopyElementType arrayName[CAPACITY];
• Example: int b[10]; and int b[10] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10};

Array as an ADT

• Fixed size: specify the capacity of the array.
• Ordered: indices are numbered 0, 1, 2,..., capacity -1.
• Same type of elements: specify the element type.
• Direct access: subscript operator [].

Array Output Function

• Example: void display(int array[], int num_values) { for (int i = 0; i < num_values; i++) cout ... }.

Learn the basics of Abstract Data Types (ADTs), including how they are defined, their operations, and implementation. Understand the concept of abstractness in data processing.