Data Structures Fundamentals

Data Structures

• A way of collecting and organizing data to perform operations effectively
• Rendering data elements in terms of some relationship for better organization and storage
• Examples: player's name "Virat" and age 26, organized as a record like Player record
• Can be stored in a file or database as a data structure

Basic Types of Data Structures

Primitive Data Structures

• Examples: Integer, Float, Boolean, Char, etc.
• Basic types: Character (character, char), Integer (integer, int, short, long, byte), Floating-point number (float, double, real, double precision), Fixed-point number (fixed), Boolean (logical values true and false), Reference (also called a pointer or handle)

Abstract Data Structures

• Used to store large and connected data
• Also known as complex Data Structures
• Examples: Tree, Graph, Stack, Queue, etc.
• Allow different operations to be performed on data

Algorithm

• A finite set of instructions or logic to accomplish a certain predefined task
• Not the complete code or program, but the core logic (solution) of a problem
• Can be expressed as an informal high-level description, pseudocode, or a flowchart
• Performance measured by:
  • Time Complexity
  • Space Complexity

Space Complexity

• Amount of memory space required by the algorithm during execution
• Must be taken seriously for multi-user systems and limited memory availability
• Algorithm requires space for:
  • Instruction Space
  • Data Space
  • Environment Space

Time Complexity

• Amount of time needed by the program to run to completion
• Represented by the time required to execute the algorithm

Arrays

• A sequence of objects of the same data type
• Examples: names of persons, instrument readings, roll numbers of students
• All elements of an array are of the same type (e.g., int, char, floating decimal point)
• Array elements cannot be a mixture of different data types or functions
• Stored in a sequence of adjacent memory blocks in computer memory

Learn about data structures, a way of collecting and organizing data for effective operations. Understand how to render data elements for better organization and storage.