Data structure

In computer science, a data structure is a particular way of organizing data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently.^[1]^[2]

Usage

Data structures can implement one or more particular abstract data types (ADT), which specify the operations that can be performed on a data structure and the computational complexity of those operations. In comparison, a data structure is a concrete implementation of the specification provided by an ADT.

Different kinds of data structures are suited to different kinds of applications, and some are highly specialized to specific tasks. For example, relational databases commonly use B-tree indexes for data retrieval,^[3] while compiler implementations usually use hash tables to look up identifiers.

Data structures provide a means to manage large amounts of data efficiently for uses such as large databases and internet indexing services. Usually, efficient data structures are key to designing efficient algorithms. Some formal design methods and programming languages emphasize data structures, rather than algorithms, as the key organizing factor in software design. Data structures can be used to organize the storage and retrieval of information stored in both main memory and secondary memory.

Implementation

Data structures are generally based on the ability of a computer to fetch and store data at any place in its memory, specified by a pointer—a bit string, representing a memory address, that can be itself stored in memory and manipulated by the program. Thus, the array and record data structures are based on computing the addresses of data items with arithmetic operations; while the linked data structures are based on storing addresses of data items within the structure itself. Many data structures use both principles, sometimes combined in non-trivial ways (as in XOR linking).

The implementation of a data structure usually requires writing a set of procedures that create and manipulate instances of that structure. The efficiency of a data structure cannot be analyzed separately from those operations. This observation motivates the theoretical concept of an abstract data type, a data structure that is defined indirectly by the operations that may be performed on it, and the mathematical properties of those operations (including their space and time cost).

Examples

There are numerous types of data structures, generally built upon simpler primitive data types:

An array is a number of elements in a specific order, typically all of the same type. Elements are accessed using an integer index to specify which element is required (Depending on the language, individual elements may either all be forced to be the same type, or may be of almost any type). Typical implementations allocate contiguous memory words for the elements of arrays (but this is not always a necessity). Arrays may be fixed-length or resizable.
A linked list (also just called list) is a linear collection of data elements of any type, called nodes, where each node has itself a value, and points to the next node in the linked list. The principal advantage of a linked list over an array, is that values can always be efficiently inserted and removed without relocating the rest of the list. Certain other operations, such as random access to a certain element, are however slower on lists than on arrays.
A record (also called tuple or struct) is an aggregate data structure. A record is a value that contains other values, typically in fixed number and sequence and typically indexed by names. The elements of records are usually called fields or members.
A union is a data structure that specifies which of a number of permitted primitive types may be stored in its instances, e.g. float or long integer. Contrast with a record, which could be defined to contain a float and an integer; whereas in a union, there is only one value at a time. Enough space is allocated to contain the widest member datatype.
A tagged union (also called variant, variant record, discriminated union, or disjoint union) contains an additional field indicating its current type, for enhanced type safety.
A class is a data structure that contains data fields, like a record, as well as various methods which operate on the contents of the record. In the context of object-oriented programming, records are known as plain old data structures to distinguish them from classes.

Language support

Most assembly languages and some low-level languages, such as BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language), lack built-in support for data structures. On the other hand, many high-level programming languages and some higher-level assembly languages, such as MASM, have special syntax or other built-in support for certain data structures, such as records and arrays. For example, the C (a direct descendant of BCPL) and Pascal languages support structs and records, respectively, in addition to vectors (one-dimensional arrays) and multi-dimensional arrays.^[4]^[5]

Most programming languages feature some sort of library mechanism that allows data structure implementations to be reused by different programs. Modern languages usually come with standard libraries that implement the most common data structures. Examples are the C++ Standard Template Library, the Java Collections Framework, and the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Modern languages also generally support modular programming, the separation between the interface of a library module and its implementation. Some provide opaque data types that allow clients to hide implementation details. Object-oriented programming languages, such as C++, Java, and Smalltalk, typically use classes for this purpose.

Many known data structures have concurrent versions which allow multiple computing threads to access a single concrete instance of a data structure simultaneously.

References

↑ Black (ed.), Paul E. (2004-12-15). Entry for data structure in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures. Online version. U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, 15 December 2004. Retrieved on 2009-05-21 from http://xlinux.nist.gov/dads/HTML/datastructur.html.
↑ Encyclopædia Britannica (2009). Entry data structure in the Encyclopædia Britannica (2009). Retrieved on 2009-05-21 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/152190/data-structure.
↑ Gavin Powell (2006). "Chapter 8: Building Fast-Performing Database Models". Beginning Database Design ISBN 978-0-7645-7490-0. Wrox Publishing.
↑ "The GNU C Manual". Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 2014-10-15.
↑ "Free Pascal: Reference Guide". Free Pascal. Retrieved 2014-10-15.

Bibliography

Peter Brass, Advanced Data Structures, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, vol. 1. Addison-Wesley, 3rd edition, 1997.
Dinesh Mehta and Sartaj Sahni, Handbook of Data Structures and Applications, Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, 2007.
Niklaus Wirth, Algorithms and Data Structures, Prentice Hall, 1985.

External links

Data structures
Types	Collection Container
Abstract	Associative array Multimap List Stack Queue Double-ended queue Priority queue Double-ended priority queue Set Multiset Disjoint-set
Arrays	Bit array Circular buffer Dynamic array Hash table Hashed array tree Sparse matrix
Linked	Association list Linked list Skip list Unrolled linked list XOR linked list
Trees	B-tree Binary search tree AA tree AVL tree Red–black tree Self-balancing tree Splay tree Heap Binary heap Binomial heap Fibonacci heap R-tree R* tree R+ tree Hilbert R-tree Trie Hash tree
Graphs	Binary decision diagram Directed acyclic graph Directed acyclic word graph
List of data structures

Data types
Uninterpreted	Bit Byte Trit Tryte Word Bit array
Numeric	Arbitrary-precision or bignum Complex Decimal Fixed point Floating point Double precision Extended precision Half precision Long double Minifloat Octuple precision Quadruple precision Single precision Integer signedness Interval Rational
Pointer	Address physical virtual Reference
Text	Character String null-terminated
Composite	Algebraic data type generalized Array Associative array Class Dependent Equality Inductive List Object metaobject Option type Product Record Set Union tagged
Other	Boolean Bottom type Collection Enumerated type Exception Function type Opaque data type Recursive data type Semaphore Stream Top type Type class Unit type Void
Related topics	Abstract data type Data structure Generic Kind metaclass Parametric polymorphism Primitive data type Protocol interface Subtyping Type constructor Type conversion Type system
See also platform-dependent and independent units of information

Data model
Main	Architecture Modeling Structure
Schemas	Conceptual Logical Physical
Types	Database Data structure diagram Entity–relationship model (enhanced) Geographic Generic Semantic
Related models	Data flow diagram Information model Object model Object-role modeling Unified Modeling Language
See also	Database design Business process modeling Core architecture data model Enterprise modelling Function model Process modeling XML schema Data Format Description Language

Authority control	GND: 4011146-5 NDL: 01167757

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