Linked List

Tushar B. Kute,
http://tusharkute.com
Linked List

• Linked list is a linear data structure that includes a series

of connected nodes.
• Linked list can be defined as the nodes that are
randomly stored in the memory.
• A node in the linked list contains two parts, i.e., first is
the data part and second is the address part.
• The last node of the list contains a pointer to the null.
• After array, linked list is the second most used data
structure.
• In a linked list, every link contains a connection to
another link.
Linked List
Linked List: Why?

• Linked list is a data structure that overcomes the

limitations of arrays. Let's first see some of the
limitations of arrays -
– The size of the array must be known in advance before
using it in the program.
– Increasing the size of the array is a time taking
process. It is almost impossible to expand the size of
the array at run time.
– All the elements in the array need to be contiguously
stored in the memory. Inserting an element in the
array needs shifting of all its predecessors.
Linked List

• Linked list is useful because -

– It allocates the memory dynamically. All the
nodes of the linked list are non-contiguously
stored in the memory and linked together with
the help of pointers.
– In linked list, size is no longer a problem since we
do not need to define its size at the time of
declaration.
– List grows as per the program's demand and
limited to the available memory space.
Linked List

• It is simple to declare an array, as it is of single type, while the

declaration of linked list is a bit more typical than array. Linked
list contains two parts, and both are of different types, i.e., one
is the simple variable, while another is the pointer variable.
• We can declare the linked list by using the user-defined data
type structure.
• The declaration of linked list is given as follows -
struct node
{
int data;
struct node *next;
}
Linked List: Advantages

• Dynamic data structure - The size of the linked list may

vary according to the requirements. Linked list does not
have a fixed size.
• Insertion and deletion - Unlike arrays, insertion, and
deletion in linked list is easier. Array elements are stored
in the consecutive location, whereas the elements in the
linked list are stored at a random location.
• To insert or delete an element in an array, we have to
shift the elements for creating the space. Whereas, in
linked list, instead of shifting, we just have to update the
address of the pointer of the node.
Linked List: Advantages

• Memory efficient - The size of a linked list can grow

or shrink according to the requirements, so memory
consumption in linked list is efficient.
• Implementation - We can implement both stacks
and queues using linked list.
Linked List: Disadvantages

• Memory usage - In linked list, node occupies more memory

than array. Each node of the linked list occupies two types of
variables, i.e., one is a simple variable, and another one is the
pointer variable.
• Traversal - Traversal is not easy in the linked list. If we have to
access an element in the linked list, we cannot access it
randomly, while in case of array we can randomly access it by
index. For example, if we want to access the 3rd node, then
we need to traverse all the nodes before it. So, the time
required to access a particular node is large.
• Reverse traversing - Backtracking or reverse traversing is
difficult in a linked list. In a doubly-linked list, it is easier but
requires more memory to store the back pointer.
Linked List: Types

• Singly Linked list

• Doubly Linked list
• Circular Linked list
• Doubly Circular Linked list
Singly Linked List

• It is the commonly used linked list in programs. If

we are talking about the linked list, it means it is a
singly linked list.
• The singly linked list is a data structure that
contains two parts, i.e., one is the data part, and the
other one is the address part, which contains the
address of the next or the successor node.
• The address part in a node is also known as a
pointer.
Singly Linked List
Doubly Linked List

• As the name suggests, the doubly linked list

contains two pointers.
• We can define the doubly linked list as a linear data
structure with three parts: the data part and the
other two address part.
• In other words, a doubly linked list is a list that has
three parts in a single node, includes one data part,
a pointer to its previous node, and a pointer to the
next node.
Doubly Linked List
Doubly Linked List

• the node in a doubly-linked list has two address parts; one part
stores the address of the next while the other part of the node
stores the previous node's address.
• The initial node in the doubly linked list has the NULL value in the
address part, which provides the address of the previous node.
• Representation of the node in a doubly linked list
struct node
{
int data;
struct node *next;
struct node *prev;
}
Circular Linked List

• A circular linked list is a variation of a singly linked

list. The only difference between the singly linked
list and a circular linked list is that the last node
does not point to any node in a singly linked list, so
its link part contains a NULL value.
• On the other hand, the circular linked list is a list in
which the last node connects to the first node, so
the link part of the last node holds the first node's
address.
• The circular linked list has no starting and ending
node.
Circular Linked List

• We can traverse in any direction, i.e., either

backward or forward. The diagrammatic
representation of the circular linked list is shown
below:
struct node
{
int data;
struct node *next;
}
Circular Linked List

• A circular linked list is a sequence of elements in

which each node has a link to the next node, and
the last node is having a link to the first node.
• The representation of the circular linked list will be
similar to the singly linked list, as shown below:
Circular Doubly Linked List

• The doubly circular linked list has the features of

both the circular linked list and doubly linked list.
Circular Doubly Linked List

• The representation of the doubly circular linked list in

which the last node is attached to the first node and thus
creates a circle.
• It is a doubly linked list also because each node holds the
address of the previous node also.
• The main difference between the doubly linked list and
doubly circular linked list is that the doubly circular linked
list does not contain the NULL value in the previous field
of the node.
• As the doubly circular linked contains three parts, i.e., two
address parts and one data part so its representation is
similar to the doubly linked list.
Circular Doubly Linked List

struct node
{
int data;
struct node *next;
struct node *prev;
}
Stack using Linked List

• Create a Node class with two fields: data and next.

• Create a Stack class with two fields: head and top.
• The head pointer points to the top of the stack, and the top
pointer points to the next element in the stack.
• To push an element onto the stack, we create a new node with
the given data and set the next pointer of the new node to the
current head of the stack. Then, we set the head of the stack to
the new node.
• To pop an element from the stack, we return the data of the
current head node and set the head of the stack to the next node
in the stack.
• To check if the stack is empty, we check if the head pointer is null.
Queue using Linked List

• To implement a queue using a linked list, you can use

the following steps:
– Create a linked list with two pointers, head and tail.
– The head pointer will point to the first element in
the queue, and the tail pointer will point to the last
element in the queue.
– To enqueue an element, add it to the end of the
linked list and update the tail pointer.
– To dequeue an element, remove it from the front
of the linked list and update the head pointer.
 Thank you
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