ArrayĪn array is a finite group of data, which is allocated contiguous (i.e. Let’s now take a look at the properties that make up a few of the more well known data structures.
Graphs: decision, directed, acyclic etc.Hash: distributed hash table, hash tree etc.Tree: binary, heaps, space partitioning etc.When we think of data structures, there are generally four forms:
In some cases a data structure can become the underlying implementation for a particular data type.įor example, composite data types are data structures that are composed of scalar data types and/or other composite types, whereas an abstract data type will define a set of behaviours (almost like an ‘interface’ in a sense) for which a particular data structure can be used as the concrete implementation for that data type. Data StructuresĪ data structure is a collection of data type ‘values’ which are stored and organized in such a way that it allows for efficient access and modification. For example, a list data type can be considered a sequence of values and so one available operation/behaviour would be that it must be iterable. it describes certain operations that can be performed on the data itself). Note: an ADT describes behaviour from the perspective of a consumer of that type (e.g. For example, a ’list’ is an abstract data type which represents a countable number of ordered values, but again the implementation of such a data type could be implemented using a variety of different data structures, one being a ‘ linked list’. Note: in a language like C the length of the string’s underlying array will be the number of characters in the string followed by a ‘ null terminator’.Īn abstract data type (ADT) describes the expected behaviour associated with a concrete data structure. Whereas the underlying implementation of the string composite type is typically implemented using an array data structure (we’ll cover data structures shortly). If we consider a composite type, such as a ‘string’, it describes a data structure which contains a sequence of char scalars (characters), and as such is referred to as being a ‘composite’ type. pass-by-value semantics) and this contrasts with ‘reference types’ (e.g. A primitive is typically used to represent a ‘value type’ (e.g.
NOTE: You might also have heard of a ‘primitive’ type, which is sometimes confused with the ‘scalar’ type. Abstract: data type that is defined by its behaviour (tuple, set, stack, queue, graph etc).Composite: any data type (struct, array, string etc.) composed of scalars or composite types (also referred to as a ‘compound’ type).Scalar: basic building block (boolean, integer, float, char etc.).Want to be up and running quickly with Python? Get started here with my bookĪ data type is an attribute of data which tells the compiler (or interpreter) how the programmer intends to use the data.
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