There are many special words and terms which are used and designed
for coding world. In other words, these are essential terms that every
programmer and website builder has to know about.
Some of them are so important that whenever programmers want to get
employed, the employer would not accept them without having enough knowledge of
using them. Of course nobody wants these scenario to happen for him/ her.
One of these important subjects we mentioned earlier, is called
“data structure” and plays a vital role in
programming field.
Because of this big importance of data structures, we are going to
give a brief explanation of what do they mean and why programmers must use
them. Then we will mention some of the most important data structures which
nearly all programmers use.
What
is a Data Structure?
Simply put, different methods of organizing and storing data in a
computer so the data can be used efficiently, is called data structures. In
other words, a website creator is not able to program an application or write different codes, without having a good
knowledge of data structures.
If data is not structured, or is
“unstructured”, it cannot be organized in a way that is useful for analysis and
operation.
You may get surprised if you realize that in
spite of importance of data structures, according to statistics and
estimations, about 80% of the world’s data is unstructured.
In fact, giving structure to data is
necessary job to do for having the most efficient results. But many
organizations in the world are dealing with problems related to collected, but
unstructured data.
The other interesting and of course important
feature about data structures, is that they act like a container. With
container, we mean they “contain” data in a special layout that makes data
structures act in efficient manner for specific operations and in other and, be
inefficient for some other operations.
The main goal here for a programmer or
website builder, is to understand and to know different data structures so they
can choose the most efficient, optimal structure for the existing problems.
If you are dealing with these kinds of
problems or are wondering how to grow online business, we are here to help you.
So feel free to ask for our website design and get the best possible result.
7 Common
Data Structures You Should Know About
Till here, we found out what exactly does
data structures mean and what we are supposed to do with them for having the
most efficient data.
Here, we are going to explore the most
important data structures with which nearly all of the programmers in coding
and website design are widely using them.
However, notice that this list is not
supposed to be your only data structures in use. Actually if you are working on
a website for businesses, you are free to create and make use of your own data
structures.
But this list is what you need to start your
work as a programmer or website builder. In other words, these are the building
blocks for having a successful experience in coding.
1.Arrays
The first data structure we want to talk
about, is called Array. Actually we started our list with this one, because the
most widely used and simplest data structure, is an array.
The collection of items which are organized
in a sequence, is called array. Each array contains of specific elements called
“values” or “variables”. These values have both the same data type and fixed
size. Considering these features, we are not able make any change in size of
these arrays.
It is also should be mentioned that most of
the programming languages, tend to define the starting index in each array with
0.
As you see in the picture, each array looks
like weekly medication organizer. Each of small container include one specific
variable. These variables could be any positive numerical value which are also
called “index”.
Each index refers to position of different
items is different containers of the one array. It is also worth mentioning
that there are two kind of arrays which we mentioned below:
·
One-dimensional arrays
·
Multi-dimensional arrays (arrays embedded in arrays)
There are also basic operations of which
website builders make use when working with arrays, including insert, get,
delete, and size.
2.Linked lists
The second data structure which some
programmers confuse it with arrays we mentioned above, is called Linked Lists.
Although it might be slightly similar to
arrays, there are many differences in memory allocation, internal structure and
the way basic operations like deletion and operations are done.
Actually a sequence of items which are
organized in a linear order and they are all connected to each other, is called
linked list.
This linear sequence of linked lists means
you are just allowed to have in in order access, and that’s why having random
access to data stored in linked lists is impossible.
Each linked list is made of a chain of items
called “nodes”. Each of these nodes include information like data and a pointer
to the next node in each chain.
There is also a head pointer in each chain.
This head pointer directs us to the first nodes of each linked list. Programmers
should also know that the last node or element of each list, is called “tail”.
You have three option in creating a linked
list; you are able to either create a singly linked list with which you are
allowed to cover list from head to tail, or you can make a doubly linked list
which could be covered both backward and forward. Finally, there is circular
linked list that the next pointer of tail, directs you to the head of the list
and vice versa. Thus, it would form a circle.
3.Stacks
Have you ever happened to think about the
function of undo option? This option is almost available in all applications,
that we cannot imagine using them without having the possibility of undo
things.
So, we are here to tell you what data
structure is behind this famous option. You should know that all of this
process, saving the previous state of your activity and having it in on order
the last recent work appears, cannot be carried out using arrays. And here is
where stacks come useful to either programmer or website builder.
Stacks, which are also known as LIFO (Last In
First Out), are like number of books that are placed on each other and if you
want to get one of the books located in the middle, you should first pick up
all books at the top to gain access to the book in the middle. This is exactly
how stacks in coding world works.
The basic operation of stacks, are push, pop,
isEmpty and top.
4.Queues
Another type of data structures, is called
queues or FIFO (First In, First Out) which looks alike stacks in some aspects.
Having a clear image from each of these data structures, helps you to
understand and remember them in a more efficient way.
So, imagine a line of people waiting in front
of a building to enter it. Just as the queues, the first person in this line
enters the building first and the last one enters last.
Just as how lines work, if you want to
enqueue (to insert an element) a special element, you must insert it at the end
of queue, not first. And if you decide to dequeue (to delete an element) an
element from the queue, you must delete the item from the end.
Moreover, the most frequent use of queue data
structures, is when managing threads in multithreading and most of the
programmers use them to implements priority queuing systems.
Besides, the most four basic operations of
queues, include Enqueue, Dequeue, isEmpty, and Top.
5.Hash Tables
In Hash Table type of data structure,
programmers and website designers use unique indexes called “key” to provide
the possibility of identifying each object.
This way, it would be so easy to use these
keys for looking up values efficiently without waste of the time.
Furthermore, it is also the best way to
search for data and insert them, without paying close attention to size of
them. It also makes is effortless to identify a special object among similar
ones.
Imagine when signing up in college, you would
be given the ID number that is used instead of your name for getting
information about you. There may be many more students in your college whose
name is similar to yours, but you unique ID number won’t allow your information
to be confused with others.
Of course, there are other data structures
based on hashing, but the most frequently used is hash table.
It is also important to note that we
implement hash tables generally using arrays. There are three factors which the
performance of hashing data structure depends upon:
- Hash Function
- Size of the Hash Table
- Collision Handling Method
6.Trees
The sixth form of data structure is called
tree or hierarchical data structure which consists of vertices or nodes and
some edges for connecting them.
You may be noticed that this tree is somehow
similar to graph and you are right, but remember that the big difference
between trees and graphs is that cycle cannot include in a tree.
The most usage of trees, occurs in complex
algorithm and AI (Artificial Intelligence) and helps storing mechanism for
problem solving in the most efficient way.
Furthermore, there are different kinds of
trees which depending on our application, we can make a wide use of them. Here
are different types of trees:
- N-ary Tree
- Balanced Tree
- Binary Tree
- Binary Search Tree
- AVL Tree
- Red Black Tree
- 2-3 Tree
The most frequent use of this different types
of trees mentioned above, include Binary Tree and Binary Search Tree.
7. Trie
Trie is the last tree-like data structure
which is also known as “Prefix Trees” and is the most favorite in solving
problems related to strings.
This data structure helps us have an
efficient word searching in dictionary with providing auto suggestions. It also
provide us with fast retrievals.
Conclusion
Today, we are going digital more than ever
and data structures are one of the most important subjects with which a web
designer or programmer could get coding carried out in the most efficient way.
If you are wondering how to grow online
presence or need website for small businesses, we are here to help you.
Just spend a few seconds checking out our
website and services and we would be happy to provide you with the best
options.