5. Linked Lists

In This Chapter

• Links

• A Simple Linked List

• Double-Ended Lists

• Linked List Efficiency

• Abstract Data Types and Objects

• Ordered Lists

• Doubly Linked Lists

• Circular Lists

• Iterators

In Chapter 2, “Arrays,” you saw that arrays had certain disadvantages as data storage structures. In an unordered array, searching is slow, whereas in an ordered array, insertion is slow. In both kinds of arrays, deletion is slow. Also, the size of an array can’t be changed after it’s created. If a larger or smaller array is needed, a new array can be created, but all the items it contains need to be copied into the new structure, which is slow.

In this chapter we look at a data storage structure that solves some of these problems: the ...

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