3.1 What is a Linked List?

A linked list is a data structure used for storing collections of data. A linked list has the following
properties.
• Successive elements are connected by pointers
• The last element points to NULL
• Can grow or shrink in size during execution of a program
• Can be made just as long as required (until systems memory exhausts)
• Does not waste memory space (but takes some extra memory for pointers). It
allocates memory as list grows.
3.2 Linked Lists ADT

The following operations make linked lists an ADT:

Main Linked Lists Operations

• Insert: inserts an element into the list

Auxiliary Linked Lists Operations

• Delete List: removes all elements of the list (disposes the list)
• Count: returns the number of elements in the list
• Find nth node from the end of the list

3.3 Why Linked Lists?

There are many other data structures that do the same thing as linked lists. Before discussing
linked lists it is important to understand the difference between linked lists and arrays. Both
linked lists and arrays are used to store collections of data, and since both are used for the same
purpose, we need to differentiate their usage. That means in which cases arrays are suitable and
in which cases linked lists are suitable.

3.4 Arrays Overview

One memory block is allocated for the entire array to hold the elements of the array. The array
elements can be accessed in constant time by using the index of the particular element as the
subscript.
Why Constant Time for Accessing Array Elements?

To access an array element, the address of an element is computed as an offset from the base
address of the array and one multiplication is needed to compute what is supposed to be added to
the base address to get the memory address of the element. First the size of an element of that data
type is calculated and then it is multiplied with the index of the element to get the value to be
added to the base address.

This process takes one multiplication and one addition. Since these two operations take constant
time, we can say the array access can be performed in constant time.

Advantages of Arrays

• Simple and easy to use

Disadvantages of Arrays

• Preallocates all needed memory up front and wastes memory space for indices in the
array that are empty.
• Fixed size: The size of the array is static (specify the array size before using it).
• One block allocation: To allocate the array itself at the beginning, sometimes it may
not be possible to get the memory for the complete array (if the array size is big).
• Complex position-based insertion: To insert an element at a given position, we may
need to shift the existing elements. This will create a position for us to insert the
new element at the desired position. If the position at which we want to add an
element is at the beginning, then the shifting operation is more expensive.

Dynamic Arrays

Dynamic array (also called as growable array, resizable array, dynamic table, or array list) is a
random access, variable-size list data structure that allows elements to be added or removed.

One simple way of implementing dynamic arrays is to initially start with some fixed size array.
As soon as that array becomes full, create the new array double the size of the original array.
Similarly, reduce the array size to half if the elements in the array are less than half.

Note: We will see the implementation for dynamic arrays in the Stacks, Queues and Hashing
chapters.

Advantages of Linked Lists

Linked lists have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of linked lists is that they can
be expanded in constant time. To create an array, we must allocate memory for a certain number
of elements. To add more elements to the array when full, we must create a new array and copy
the old array into the new array. This can take a lot of time.

We can prevent this by allocating lots of space initially but then we might allocate more than we
need and waste memory. With a linked list, we can start with space for just one allocated element
and add on new elements easily without the need to do any copying and reallocating.

Issues with Linked Lists (Disadvantages)

There are a number of issues with linked lists. The main disadvantage of linked lists is access
time to individual elements. Array is random-access, which means it takes O(1) to access any
element in the array. Linked lists take O(n) for access to an element in the list in the worst case.
Another advantage of arrays in access time is spacial locality in memory. Arrays are defined as
contiguous blocks of memory, and so any array element will be physically near its neighbors. This
greatly benefits from modern CPU caching methods.

Although the dynamic allocation of storage is a great advantage, the overhead with storing and
retrieving data can make a big difference. Sometimes linked lists are hard to manipulate. If the
last item is deleted, the last but one must then have its pointer changed to hold a NULL reference.
This requires that the list is traversed to find the last but one link, and its pointer set to a NULL
reference.

Finally, linked lists waste memory in terms of extra reference points.

3.5 Comparison of Linked Lists with Arrays & Dynamic Arrays

Generally “linked list” means a singly linked list. This list consists of a number of nodes in which
each node has a next pointer to the following element. The link of the last node in the list is
NULL, which indicates the end of the list.

Following is a type declaration for a linked list of integers:

Basic Operations on a List

Traversing the Linked List

Let us assume that the head points to the first node of the list. To traverse the list we do the
following
• Follow the pointers.
• Display the contents of the nodes (or count) as they are traversed.
• Stop when the next pointer points to NULL.

The ListLength() function takes a linked list as input and counts the number of nodes in the list.
The function given below can be used for printing the list data with extra print function.

Time Complexity: O(n), for scanning the list of size n.

Singly Linked List Insertion

Insertion into a singly-linked list has three cases: