What is named a list of data item that all have the same data type?
A data structure is a specialized format for organizing, processing, retrieving and storing data. There are several basic and advanced types of data structures, all designed to arrange data to suit a specific purpose. Data structures make it easy for users to access and work with the data they need in appropriate ways. Most importantly, data structures frame the organization of information so that machines and humans can better understand it. Show In computer science and computer programming, a data structure may be selected or designed to store data for the purpose of using it with various algorithms. In some cases, the algorithm's basic operations are tightly coupled to the data structure's design. Each data structure contains information about the data values, relationships between the data and -- in some cases -- functions that can be applied to the data. For instance, in an object-oriented programming language, the data structure and its associated methods are bound together as part of a class definition. In non-object-oriented languages, there may be functions defined to work with the data structure, but they are not technically part of the data structure. Why are data structures important?Typical base data types, such as integers or floating-point values, that are available in most computer programming languages are generally insufficient to capture the logical intent for data processing and use. Yet applications that ingest, manipulate and produce information must understand how data should be organized to simplify processing. Data structures bring together the data elements in a logical way and facilitate the effective use, persistence and sharing of data. They provide a formal model that describes the way the data elements are organized. Data structures are the building blocks for more sophisticated applications. They are designed by composing data elements into a logical unit representing an abstract data type that has relevance to the algorithm or application. An example of an abstract data type is a "customer name" that is composed of the character strings for "first name," "middle name" and "last name." It is not only important to use data structures, but it is also important to choose the proper data structure for each task. Choosing an ill-suited data structure could result in slow runtimes or unresponsive code. Five factors to consider when picking a data structure include the following:
How are data structures used?In general, data structures are used to implement the physical forms of abstract data types. Data structures are a crucial part of designing efficient software. They also play a critical role in algorithm design and how those algorithms are used within computer programs. Early programming languages -- such as Fortran, C and C++ -- enabled programmers to define their own data structures. Today, many programming languages include an extensive collection of built-in data structures to organize code and information. For example, Python lists and dictionaries, and JavaScript arrays and objects are common coding structures used for storing and retrieving information. Software engineers use algorithms that are tightly coupled with the data structures -- such as lists, queues and mappings from one set of values to another. This approach can be fused in a variety of applications, including managing collections of records in a relational database and creating an index of those records using a data structure called a binary tree. Some examples of how data structures are used include the following:
Characteristics of data structuresData structures are often classified by their characteristics. The following three characteristics are examples:
Data typesIf data structures are the building blocks of algorithms and computer programs, the primitive -- or base -- data types are the building blocks of data structures. The typical base data types include the following:
Types of data structuresThe data structure type used in a particular situation is determined by the type of operations that will be required or the kinds of algorithms that will be applied. The various data structure types include the following:
These are considered complex data structures as they can store large amounts of interconnected data. How to choose a data structureWhen choosing a data structure for a program or application, developers should consider the answers to the following three questions: What is the array name?Array name is a type of name or a type of any element name that is share by all elements of an array but its indexes are different. Array name handle as a constant pointer, it can never change during execution of a program. Array name is also used to reach its all element.
What is array and types?An array type is a user-defined data type consisting of an ordered set of elements of a single data type. An ordinary array type has a defined upper bound on the number of elements and uses the ordinal position as the array index.
What are the things in an array called?Each variable or object in an array is called an element. Unlike stricter languages, such as Java, you can store a mixture of data types in a single array. For example, you could have array with the following four elements: an integer, a window object, a string and a button object.
Is array a data type or data structure?An array is a linear data structure that collects elements of the same data type and stores them in contiguous and adjacent memory locations. Arrays work on an index system starting from 0 to (n-1), where n is the size of the array.
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