Introduction

Data Structure can be defined as the group of data
elements which provides an efficient way of storing

and organising data in the computer so that it can be
used efficiently. Some examples of Data Structures
are arrays, Linked List, Stack, Queue, etc.
BASIC TERMINOLOGY
 Data: Data can be defined as an elementary value or the collection

of values, for example, student's name and its id are the data about
the student.
 Group Items: Data items which have subordinate data items are
called Group item, for example, name of a student can have first
name and the last name.
 Record: Record can be defined as the collection of various data
items, for example, if we talk about the student entity, then its
name, address, course and marks can be grouped together to form
the record for the student.
 File: A File is a collection of various records of one type of entity, for
example, if there are 60 employees in the class, then there will be
20 records in the related file where each record contains the data
about each employee.
 Attribute and Entity: An entity represents the class of certain
objects. it contains various attributes. Each attribute represents the
particular property of that entity.
 Field: Field is a single elementary unit of information representing
the attribute of an entity.
DATA STRUCTURE CLASSIFICATION
 Linear Data Structures: A data structure is called linear
if all of its elements are arranged in the linear order. In
linear data structures, the elements are stored in non-
hierarchical way where each element has the successors
and predecessors except the first and last element.
 Types of Linear Data Structures are given below:
 Arrays: An array is a collection of similar type of data
items and each data item is called an element of the array.
The data type of the element may be any valid data type
like char, int, float or double.
 The elements of array share the same variable name but
each one carries a different index number known as
subscript. The array can be one dimensional, two
dimensional or multidimensional.
 The individual elements of the array age are:
 age[0], age[1], age[2], age[3],......... age[98], age[99].
LINKED LIST
Linked list is a linear data structure which is
used to maintain a list in the memory. It can
be seen as the collection of nodes stored at
non-contiguous memory locations. Each node
of the list contains a pointer to its adjacent
node.
 Stack: Stack is a linear list in which insertion
and deletions are allowed only at one end,
called top.
A stack is an abstract data type (ADT), can be
implemented in most of the programming
languages. It is named as stack because it
behaves like a real-world stack, for example:
- piles of plates or deck of cards etc.
 Queue: Queue is a linear list in which
elements can be inserted only at one end
called rear and deleted only at the other end
called front.
 It is an abstract data structure, similar to
stack. Queue is opened at both end therefore

it follows First-In-First-Out (FIFO)
methodology for storing the data items.
 Non Linear Data Structures: This data
structure does not form a sequence i.e. each
item or element is connected with two or
more other items in a non-linear
arrangement. The data elements are not
arranged in sequential structure.
 Types of Non Linear Data Structures are
given below:
 Trees: Trees are multilevel data structures with
a hierarchical relationship among its elements
known as nodes. The bottommost nodes in the
herierchy are called leaf node while the
topmost node is called root node. Each node
contains pointers to point adjacent nodes.
 Tree data structure is based on the parent-child
relationship among the nodes. Each node in

the tree can have more than one children
except the leaf nodes whereas each node can
have atmost one parent except the root node.
Trees can be classfied into many categories
which will be discussed later in this tutorial.
 Graphs: Graphs can be defined as the
pictorial representation of the set of
elements (represented by vertices)
connected by the links known as edges. A
graph is different from tree in the sense that
a graph can have cycle while the tree can not
have the one.
OPERATIONS ON DATA STRUCTURE
 Traversing: Every data structure contains

the set of data elements. Traversing the data
structure means visiting each element of the
data structure in order to perform some
specific operation like searching or sorting.
 Example: If we need to calculate the
average of the marks obtained by a student

in 6 different subject, we need to traverse
the complete array of marks and calculate
the total sum, then we will devide that sum
by the number of subjects i.e. 6, in order to
find the average.
 2) Insertion: Insertion can be defined as the
process of adding the elements to the data
structure at any location.
 If the size of data structure is n then we can
only insert n-1 data elements into it.

 3) Deletion:The process of removing an
element from the data structure is called

Deletion. We can delete an element from the
data structure at any random location.
 If we try to delete an element from an empty
data structure then underflow occurs.

 4) Searching: The process of finding the
location of an element within the data
structure is called Searching. There are two
algorithms to perform searching, Linear
Search and Binary Search. We will discuss
each one of them later in this tutorial.
 5) Sorting: The process of arranging the
data structure in a specific order is known as

Sorting. There are many algorithms that can
be used to perform sorting, for example,
insertion sort, selection sort, bubble sort, etc.
 Merging: When two lists List A and List B of
size M and N respectively, of similar type of
elements, clubbed or joined to produce the
third list, List C of size (M+N), then this
process is called merging
Major Operations
 The major or the common operations that can be

performed on the data structures are:
 Searching: We can search for any element in a data
structure.
 Sorting: We can sort the elements of a data structure
either in an ascending or descending order.
 Insertion: We can also insert the new element in a
data structure.
 Updation: We can also update the element, i.e., we
can replace the element with another element.
 Deletion: We can also perform the delete operation to
remove the element from the data structure.
DATA STRUCTURE CLASSIFICATION
Linear Data Structures: A data structure is called linear if

all of its elements are arranged in the linear order. In linear
data structures, the elements are stored in non-hierarchical
way where each element has the successors and
predecessors except the first and last element.
Types of Linear Data Structures are given below:
Arrays: An array is a collection of similar type of data items
and each data item is called an element of the array. The
data type of the element may be any valid data type like
char, int, float or double.
The elements of array share the same variable name but
each one carries a different index number known as
subscript. The array can be one dimensional, two
dimensional or multidimensional.
The individual elements of the array age are:
age[0], age[1], age[2], age[3],......... age[98], age[99].

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Data Structure can be defined as the group of data

elements which provides an efficient way of storing

 Data: Data can be defined as an elementary value or the collection

stack. Queue is opened at both end therefore

relationship among the nodes. Each node in

 Traversing: Every data structure contains

average of the marks obtained by a student

only insert n-1 data elements into it.

element from the data structure is called

data structure then underflow occurs.

data structure in a specific order is known as

 The major or the common operations that can be

Linear Data Structures: A data structure is called linear if

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