Absolute Beginner's Guide to Algorithms: A Practical Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms in JavaScript

19

Binary Tree Traversal

With linear data structures like our array or linked list, navigating (aka traversing) through all of the items is fairly straightforward. We start at the beginning and just keep going to the next item until we hit the end, where there are no more items left (Figure 19-1).

FIGURE 19-1

Working with a linear data structure is pleasant

This nice and easy approach doesn’t work with trees (Figure 19-2).

FIGURE 19-2

Working with a nonlinear data structure like a tree can be stressful

Trees are hierarchical data structures, ...