Data Structures

Lecture 01: Data Structures and

ADTS
Data Structures
 Data Structures
• Building blocks of a program
• A data structure is a systematic way of organizing a collection of
data
• It is a mathematical or logical model of particular organization of
data items
• It is used to represent a mathematical model underlying an ADT
• Every data structure needs a variety of algorithms for processing
the data in it:
– algorithms for insertion, deletion, retrieval, etc.
• So, it is natural to study data structures in terms of
– properties
– organization
– operations
 Why data structures? (1/2)
Aren’t primitive types, like integers, floats and
characters, and simple arrays enough?
• Yes, since the memory model of a computer is
simply an array of Booleans
 Why data structures? (2/2)
• But, this model . . .
– is conceptually inadequate, since information is
usually expressed in the form of highly structured
data
– makes it difficult to describe complex algorithms,
since the basic operations are too primitive
– makes it difficult to reason about the efficiency of
algorithms, since computer instructions are not
operating on the right level of abstraction
 Classification of Data Structure
Data Structure

Primitive Non-Primitive

Integer Float Character Pointer Arrays Lists Files

Linear Non-Linear

Stacks Queues Graphs Trees

Fig: Classification of Data Structure

 Data Types
• A data type is a collection of values and a set of
operations on those values
• Example
– the type int in C consists of the values {0, +1, -1, +2,
-2, …, MAXINT, MININT}
– the operations on ints includes the arithmetic
operators +, -, *, and / along with operators for
testing equality and inequality
 Atomic and Structured Types
• Atomic types are those whose values are single
entities and can’t be subdivided
– Types such as int, double, char in C
• Structured (Composite) types are made up of
simpler data types and there is a structure, a set
of rules for putting the individual types together
– Arrays, pointers and structures allows to create
structured types in C
 Abstract Data Types (1/2)
• An abstract data type (ADT) is a mathematical
construct of a data type that is organized in such
a way that the specification of the values and the
specification of the operations on the values is
separated from the representation of the values
and the implementation of the operations
• ADT: A mathematical model with a collection
of operations defined on that model
 Abstract Data Types (2/2)
• It is a tool for specifying the logical properties of
a data types
• An ADT only defines a formal description what
the operations do
• An ADT is not concerned with implementation
details
– It may not even be possible to implement a particular
ADT on a particular piece of hardware or using a
particular software system
 ADTs Operations
• The operations can take as operands not only
instances of the ADT being defined but other
types of operands or instances of other ADTs
• The result of an operation can be other than an
instance of that ADT
• At least one operand, or the result, is of the ADT
in question
 ADT Example
• Sets of integers, together with the operations of
union, intersection, and set difference, form a
simple example of an ADT
• Lists, Stacks, Queues, Sets, Trees, Graphs are
some of the examples of ADTs
• Object-oriented languages such as C++ and Java
provide explicit support for expressing ADTs by
means of classes
 Data Structures: Implementation of an
ADT
• An ADT consists of two parts:
– A value definition (definition clause + condition clause)
– An operator definition (header + pre + post conditions)

• An implementation chooses a data structure to represent

the ADT; each data structure is built up from the basic
types of the underlying programming language using
the available data structuring facilities
 Data Structures in C
• Arrays and structures are two important data
structuring facilities that are available in C
• For example, one possible implementation for
variable S of type SET would be an array that
contained the members of S
 The ADT List
• Except for the first and last items, each item has
a unique predecessor and a unique successor
• Head or front do not have a predecessor
• Tail or end do not have a successor
• Items are referenced by their position within the
list
 The ADT List
• Specifications of the ADT operations
– Define the contract for the ADT list
– Do not specify how to store the list or how to
perform the operations
• ADT operations can be used in an application
without the knowledge of how the operations
will be implemented
 The ADT List
• ADT List operations
– Create an empty list
– Determine whether a list is empty
– Determine the number of items in a list
– Add an item at a given position in the list
– Remove the item at a given position in the list
– Remove all the items from the list
– Retrieve (get) item at a given position in the list
 The ADT Sorted List
• The ADT sorted list
– Maintains items in sorted order
– Inserts and deletes items by their values, not their
positions
The End