Data Structures - Review
[CLRS] – Chap 10, Chap 11, Chap 6.5
[CLRS] = Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson,
Ronald L. Rivest and Clifford Stein, Introduction to
Algorithms, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, 2009.
Data Structures
• Program = Algorithm + Data Structures
• The design of an algorithm must be based on the
understanding of data structure techniques and costs
• Abstract Data Type:
– Defined by the list of supported operations
– Hides the implementation details of these operations
Dynamic Sets
• Collections of data manipulated by algorithms;
can grow, shrink or change over time
• Operations on dynamic sets: S=a dynamic set
– Search (S, k)
– Insert (S, x)
– Delete (S, x)
– Minimum (S)
– Maximum(S)
– Successor(S, x)
– Predecessor(S, x)
Implementing Dynamic Sets
• The best way to implement a dynamic set is
determined by the subset of operations that
must be supported !
• There are particular types of Dynamic Sets,
determined by certain frequent occuring subsets
of operations: The Fundamental Data Structures
– Each data structure addresses comes with a purpose:
it addresses a particular usage context that requires
a particular subset of operations
Fundamental Data Structures
• Stacks:
– Insert (Push), Delete (Pop)
– Implemented by Lists; O(1), O(1)
• Queues:
– Insert (Enqueue), Delete (Dequeue)
– Implemented by Lists; O(1), O(1)
• Priority Queues: see for review [CLRS chap 6.5]
– Insert, Maximum, ExtractMax, IncreaseKey
– Implemented by Heaps; O(log n), O(1), O(log n), O(log n)
• Dictionaries:
– Insert, Search, Delete
– Implemented by Hashtables: see for review [CLRS chap 11]
– Generalizes the simple arrays, allows direct addressing of arbitrary
positions in O(1)
– Hashing with chaining; Hashing with open addressing
Libraries Implementing
Fundamental Data Structures
• There are standard libraries implementing the fundamental data
structures for most languages
• It is recommended to use these implementations instead of redoing
your own !
• BUT: in order to use them correct and appropriate, don’t forget
anything that you learned about fundamental data structures !
• Java: Collections
– https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/TOC.html
• C++: STL Containers
– http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/stl/
• C#: System.Collections
– https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/system.collections
%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
• Python: non-primitive types list, set, dict
– https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html
Fundamental Data Structures - Java
• Class java.util.Stack
• Interface java.util.Queue
– General purpose (not for concurrent use) queue implementation:
class java.util.LinkedList
• Interface java.util.Deque
– General purpose implementations: classes java.util.ArrayDeque,
java.util.LinkedList
• Class java.util.PriorityQueue
– Implements an unbounded priority queue based on a Heap.
• Class java.util.HashSet
• Class java.util.HashMap
