Java™ How to Program, Seventh Edition

17.6. Linked Lists

A linked list is a linear collection (i.e., a sequence) of self-referential-class objects, called nodes, connected by reference links—hence, the term “linked” list. Typically, a program accesses a linked list via a reference to the first node in the list. The program accesses each subsequent node via the link reference stored in the previous node. By convention, the link reference in the last node of the list is set to null. Data is stored in a linked list dynamically—the program creates each node as necessary. A node can contain data of any type, including references to objects of other classes. Stacks and queues are also linear data structures and, as we will see, are constrained versions of linked lists. Trees are nonlinear ...