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02 Appending Operation

This document discusses the append operation for data structures. It describes: 1) The append operation adds an element to the end of a data structure. This is also called a push_back operation. 2) Currently, the push_back function creates a new, larger array, moves the old data to it, adds the new value, and uses the new array. 3) This approach is inefficient because it takes linear time for each push_back operation. With n elements, the total time would be quadratic, or O(n^2).

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Ramsha Tariq
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8 views8 pages

02 Appending Operation

This document discusses the append operation for data structures. It describes: 1) The append operation adds an element to the end of a data structure. This is also called a push_back operation. 2) Currently, the push_back function creates a new, larger array, moves the old data to it, adds the new value, and uses the new array. 3) This approach is inefficient because it takes linear time for each push_back operation. With n elements, the total time would be quadratic, or O(n^2).

Uploaded by

Ramsha Tariq
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data Structures

Appending operation

Mostafa S. Ibrahim
Teaching, Training and Coaching since more than a decade!

Artificial Intelligence & Computer Vision Researcher


PhD from Simon Fraser University - Canada
Bachelor / Msc from Cairo University - Egypt
Ex-(Software Engineer / ICPC World Finalist)
Get data
● 2 nice utilities might be to get the front or the back element
● But what if we want to:
○ Add in the back?
■ We call it append operation
■ Or push_back operation
○ Similarly insert in the front?
■ We call it push_front
● Take 10 minutes:
○ Create function void push_back(int value)
○ It adds an element to the current array
push_back
● To add an element to
an array, we need
each time
○ Create new array
○ Move old data to it
○ Add new value
○ Use the new data and
remove old one
Usage
● One clear advantage now compare
to primitive arrays, our data
structure can grows normally in
size!
● From efficiency perspective, what
is wrong with our code?
● Take 10 minutes to think why?!
○ Hint: How many steps per push_back?
○ Hint: How many steps in all program?
○ Just approximate
Approximately, How many steps
● Assume array has length size, If we tried to estimate the number of steps
○ ~ 5 x size + 7
○ If size is 10^6, this is around 5 millions.
○ In other words, it takes linear number of steps to be finished

● For simplicity, let’s


assume it takes size
steps
○ E.g. we dropped constants
Approximately, What is Overall number of steps?
● Now this loop is iterating n = 10^6 step
○ We call push back, where size is increasing in each step, 1, 2, 3, …. n
○ So steps per a call are 1 + 2 + 3 + …..n ⇒ ~ n * (n+1) / 2 = 1/2 (n^2 + n) steps
○ For simplicity, let’s keep only the largest factor here ⇒ n^2
■ Drop constant ½ and the smaller factor n
○ In other words, it takes quadratic number of steps for loop/body to be finished
○ So for n=10^6, we take ~ 10^12 (multiplied by some factor, e.g. 5)
● Now, you know, mathematically, why this code takes too much time!
Your turn
● In the next video, we will present a simple idea that speed the code
● Take 15 minutes to guess the trick
● Also, consider today analysis one good reason why we need to study the data
structures NOT just use them!
“Acquire knowledge and impart it to the people.”

“Seek knowledge from the Cradle to the Grave.”

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