4/6/2016

AProgrammer'sapproachoflookingatArrayvs.LinkedListGeeksQuiz

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AProgrammersapproachoflookingatArrayvs.
LinkedList
In general, array is considered a data structure for which size is fixed at the compile time and array
memoryisallocatedeitherfromDatasection(e.g.globalarray)orStacksection(e.g.localarray).
Similarly,linkedlistisconsideredadatastructureforwhichsizeisnotfixedandmemoryisallocatedfrom
Heapsection(e.g.usingmalloc()etc.)asandwhenneeded.Inthissense,arrayistakenasastaticdata
structure(residinginDataorStacksection)whilelinkedlististakenasadynamicdatastructure(residing
inHeapsection).Memoryrepresentationofarrayandlinkedlistcanbevisualizedasfollows:
An array of 4 elements (integer type) which have been initialized with 1, 2, 3 and 4. Suppose, these
elementsareallocatedatmemoryaddresses0x100,0x104,0x08and0x10Brespectively.
[(1)][(2)][(3)][(4)]
0x1000x1040x1080x10B

A linked list with 4 nodes where each node has integer as data and these data are initialized with 1, 2, 3
and 4. Suppose, these nodes are allocated via malloc() and memory allocated for them is 0x200, 0x308,
0x404and0x20Brespectively.
[(1),0x308][(2),0x404][(3),0x20B][(4),NULL]
0x2000x3080x4040x20B

Anyone with even little understanding of array and linkedlist might not be interested in the above
explanation. I mean, it is well know that the array elements are allocated memory in sequence i.e.
contiguousmemorywhilenodesofalinkedlistarenoncontiguousinmemory.Thoughitsoundstrivialyet
this the most important difference between array and linked list. It should be noted that due to this
contiguousversusnoncontiguousmemory,arrayandlinkedlistaredifferent.Infact,thisdifferenceiswhat
makesarrayvs.linkedlist!Inthefollowingsections,wewilltrytoexploreonthisveryideafurther.
Sinceelementsofarrayarecontiguousinmemory,wecanaccessanyelementrandomlyusingindexe.g.
intArr[3]willaccessdirectlyfourthelementofthearray.(Fornewbies,arrayindexingstartfrom0andthats
why fourth element is indexed with 3).Also, due to contiguous memory for successive elements in array,
no extra information is needed to be stored in individual elements i.e. no overhead of metadata in arrays.
Contrarytothis,linkedlistnodesarenoncontiguousinmemory.Itmeansthatweneedsomemechanism
totraverseoraccesslinkedlistnodes.Toachievethis,eachnodestoresthelocationofnextnodeandthis
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formsthebasisofthelinkfromonenodetonextnode.Therefore,itscalledLinkedlist.Thoughstoringthe
location of next node is overhead in linked list but its required. Typically, we see linked list node
declarationasfollows:
structllNode
{
intdataInt;

/*nextNodeisthepointertonextnodeinlinkedlist*/
structllNode*nextNode;
};

RunonIDE
So array elements are contiguous in memory and therefore not requiring any metadata. And linked list
nodesarenoncontiguousinmemorytherebyrequiringmetadataintheformoflocationofnextnode.Apart
from this difference, we can see that array could have several unused elements because memory has
already been allocated. But linked list will have only the required no. of data items. All the above
informationaboutarrayandlinkedlisthasbeenmentionedinseveraltextbooksthoughindifferentways.
WhatifweneedtoallocatearraymemoryfromHeapsection(i.e.atruntime)andlinkedlistmemoryfrom
Data/Stacksection.Firstofall,isitpossible?Beforethat,onemightaskwhywouldsomeoneneedtodo
this?Now,Ihopethattheremainingarticlewouldmakeyourethinkabouttheideaofarrayvs.linkedlist
Now consider the case when we need to store certain data in array (because array has the property of
random access due to contiguous memory) but we dont know the total size apriori. One possibility is to
allocatememoryofthisarrayfromHeapatruntime.Forexample,asfollows:
/*Atruntime,supposeweknowtherequiredsizeforintegerarray(e.g.inputsizefromuser).Say,thearray
sizeisstoredinvariablearrSize.AllocatethisarrayfromHeapasfollows*/
int*dynArr=(int*)malloc(sizeof(int)*arrSize);

RunonIDE
Though the memory of this array is allocated from Heap, the elements can still be accessed via index
mechanisme.g.dynArr[i].Basically,basedontheprogrammingproblem,wehavecombinedonebenefitof
array(i.e.randomaccessofelements)andonebenefitoflinkedlist(i.e.delayingthememoryallocationtill
runtimeandallocatingmemoryfromHeap).Anotheradvantageofhavingthistypeofdynamicarrayisthat,
this method of allocating array from Heap at run time could reduce codesize (of course, it depends on
certainotherfactorse.g.programformatetc.)
Nowconsiderthecasewhenweneedtostoredatainalinkedlist(becauseno.ofnodesinlinkedlistwould
beequaltoactualdataitemsstoredi.e.noextraspacelikearray)butwearentallowedtogetthismemory
fromHeapagainandagainforeachnode.Thismightlookhypotheticalsituationtosomefolksbutitsnot
very uncommon requirement in embedded systems. Basically, in several embedded programs, allocating
memory via malloc() etc. isnt allowed due to multiple reasons. One obvious reason is performance i.e.
allocating memory via malloc() is costly in terms of time complexity because your embedded program is
required to be deterministic most of the times. Another reason could be module specific memory
managementi.e.itspossiblethateachmoduleinembeddedsystemmanagesitsownmemory.Inshort,if
weneedtoperformourownmemorymanagement,insteadofrelyingonsystemprovidedAPIsofmalloc()
and free(), we might choose the linked list which is simulated using array. I hope that you got some idea
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whywemightneedtosimulatelinkedlistusingarray.Now,letusfirstseehowthiscanbedone.Suppose,
typeofanodeinlinkedlist(i.e.underlyingarray)isdeclaredasfollows:
structsllNode
{
intdataInt;

/*Here,notethatnextIndexstoresthelocationofnextnodein
linkedlist*/
intnextIndex;
};

structsllNodearrayLL[5];

RunonIDE
Ifweinitializethislinkedlist(whichisactuallyanarray),itwouldlookasfollowsinmemory:
[(0),1][(0),1][(0),1][(0),1][(0),1]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x520

The important thing to notice is that all the nodes of the linked list are contiguous in memory (each one
occupying 8 bytes) and nextIndex of each node is set to 1.This (i.e. 1) is done to denote that the each
nodeofthelinkedlistisemptyasofnow.Thislinkedlistisdenotedbyheadindex0.
Now,ifthislinkedlistisupdatedwithfourelementsofdatapart4,3,2and1successively,itwouldlookas
followsinmemory.Thislinkedlistcanbeviewedas0x500>0x508>0x510>0x518.
[(1),1][(2),2][(3),3][(4),2][(0),1]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x520

TheimportantthingtonoticeisnextIndexoflastnode(i.e.fourthnode)issetto2.This(i.e.2)isdoneto
denotetheendoflinkedlist.Also,headnodeofthelinkedlistisindex0.Thisconceptofsimulatinglinked
listusingarraywouldlookmoreinterestingifwedeletesaysecondnodefromtheabovelinkedlist.Inthat
case,thelinkedlistwilllookasfollowsinmemory:
[(1),2][(0),1][(3),3][(4),2][(0),1]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x520

The resultant linked list is 0x500 > 0x510 > 0x518. Here, it should be noted that even though we have
deletedsecondnodefromourlinkedlist,thememoryforthisnodeisstilltherebecauseunderlyingarrayis
stillthere.ButthenextIndexoffirstnodenowpointstothirdnode(forwhichindexis2).
Hopefully, the above examples would have given some idea that for the simulated linked list, we need to
writeourownAPIsimilartomalloc()andfree()whichwouldbasicallybeusedtoinsertanddeleteanode.
Now this is whats called own memory management. Let us see how this can be done in algorithmic
manner.
Therearemultiplewaystodoso.Ifwetakethesimplisticapproachofcreatinglinkedlistusingarray,we
can use the following logic. For inserting a node, traverse the underlying array and find a node whose
nextIndexis1.Itmeansthatthisnodeisempty.Usethisnodeasanewnode.Updatethedatapartinthis
newnodeandsetthenextIndexofthisnodetocurrentheadnode(i.e.headindex)ofthelinkedlist.Finally,
make the index of this new node as head index of the linked list.To visualize it, let us take an example.
Suppose the linked list is as follows where head Index is 0 i.e. linked list is 0x500 > 0x508 > 0x518 >
0x520
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[(1),1][(2),3][(0),1][(4),4][(5),2]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x520

Afterinsertinganewnodewithdata8,thelinkedlistwouldlookasfollowswithheadindexas2.
[(1),1][(2),3][(8),0][(4),4][(5),2]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x520

Sothelinkedlistnodeswouldbeataddresses0x510>0x500>0x508>0x518>0x520
Fordeletinganode,weneedtosetthenextIndexofthenodeas1sothatthenodeismarkedasempty
node. But, before doing so, we need to make sure that the nextIndex of the previous node is updated
correctly to index of next node of this node to be deleted. We can see that we have done own memory
managementforcreatingalinkedlistoutofthearraymemory.But,thisisonewayofinsertinganddeleting
nodesinthislinkedlist.Itcanbeeasilynoticedthatfindinganemptynodeisnotsoefficientintermsof
timecomplexity.Basically,weresearchingthecompletearraylinearlytofindanemptynode.
Let us see if we can optimize it further. Basically we can maintain a linked list of empty nodes as well in
the same array. In that case, the linked list would be denoted by two indexes one index would be for
linked list which has the actual data values i.e. nodes which have been inserted so far and other index
wouldforlinkedlistofemptynodes.Bydoingso,whenever,weneedtoinsertanewnodeinexistinglinked
list,wecanquicklyfindanemptynode.Letustakeanexample:
[(4),2][(0),3][(5),5][(0),1][(0),1][(9),1]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x5200x528

Theabovelinkedlistwhichisrepresentedusingtwoindexes(0and5)hastwolinkedlists:oneforactual
values and another for empty nodes. The linked list with actual values has nodes at address 0x500 >
0x510>0x528whilethelinkedlistwithemptynodeshasnodesataddresses0x520>0x508>0x518.It
canbeseenthatfindinganemptynode(i.e.writingownAPIsimilartomalloc())shouldberelativelyfaster
nowbecausewecanquicklyfindafreenode.Inrealworldembeddedprograms,afixedchunkofmemory
(normally called memory pool) is allocated using malloc() only once by a module. And then the
management of this memory pool (which is basically an array) is done by that module itself using
techniquesmentionedearlier.Sometimes,therearemultiplememorypoolseachonehavingdifferentsize
of node. Of course, there are several other aspects of own memory management but well leave it here
itself. But its worth mentioning that there are several methods by which the insertion (which requires our
ownmemoryallocation)anddeletion(whichrequiresourownmemoryfreeing)canbeimprovedfurther.
If we look carefully, it can be noticed that the Heap section of memory is basically a big array of bytes
which is being managed by the underlying operating system (OS). And OS is providing this memory
managementservicetoprogrammersviamalloc(),free()etc.Aha!!
Theimportanttakeawaysfromthisarticlecanbesummedasfollows:
A)Arraymeanscontiguousmemory.ItcanexistinanymemorysectionbeitDataorStackorHeap.
B)LinkedListmeansnoncontiguouslinkedmemory.ItcanexistinanymemorysectionbeitHeaporData
orStack.
C)Asaprogrammer,lookingatadatastructurefrommemoryperspectivecouldprovideusbetterinsightin
choosingaparticulardatastructureorevendesigninganewdatastructure.Forexample,wemightcreate
anarrayoflinkedlistsetc.
Pleasewritecommentsifyoufindanythingincorrect,oryouwanttosharemoreinformationaboutthetopic
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Jointhediscussion
Anmol 2yearsago

Pleaseaddnextandpreviousbuttonsinyourturorials...
50

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Holden>Anmol ayearago

Yes!Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee:)
3

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erolyeniaras>Anmol ayearago

ditto!
1

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RohitJain>Anmol ayearago

yes,itismuchneededfeature
1

Reply Share

typing.. 2yearsago

reallynicearticle...goodwork...
7

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EktaGoel ayearago

@Geeksforgeeks
Suppose,theseelementsareallocatedatmemoryaddresses0x100,0x104,0x08and
0x10Brespectively.Thirdvalueis0x108
5

Reply Share

AnsurajKhadanga>EktaGoel ayearago

Yesthirdvaluemustbe0x108andfourthvaluemustbe0x10C
1

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DeSaini>AnsurajKhadanga 12daysago

yes,youarerightanshuraj

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yes,youarerightanshuraj
fourthvaluemustbe0x10C

Reply Share

IIT11>EktaGoel ayearago

Yesialsothinkitshouldbe0x10C
1

Reply Share

KanikaJain>EktaGoel 8monthsago

whatareutryingtoask?

Reply Share

shruti ayearago

Shoudnotinthestatement"theabovelinkedlistwhichisrepresentedusingtwo
indexes(0and5)",insteadofindex5astheheadoftheemptylinkedlistitshouldbe
index4,sinceindex5isthelastnodeofthelinkedlistcontainingactualvalues.
4

Reply Share

Chirag ayearago

InLinkedListusingdatasection,howinsertionisperformed?Insert@begin?(asit
insertdata4,3,2,1(i.einreverseorder)).
nhowdoweaccesslinkedlist,usingaddressofheadorthroughindex?
pleaseexplainthisgivingexample.
3

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ShwetaCharchita 8monthsago

Wouldn'timplementinglinkedlistsviaarrayimplyfixedsizeallocation?
Czits:
structsllNodearray[5](thatisafixedsizearraydeclarationtocreatealinkedlist)
Verynicearticlethough:):)
1

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Vivek>ShwetaCharchita 3monthsago

Butthat5isprovidedbyuseratruntime.Hencethatmemoryisallocatedin
heap

Reply Share

NishuSharma>ShwetaCharchita 8monthsago

NO..structsllNodearray[5]impliesthatwewouldbemaking5ofsuchlinked
listsandeachlistcancontainanynumberofnodes(whicharetobespecified
dynamically)andeachnodeineverylinkedlistcontainstwofields:firstisthe
datafieldandtheotheroneistheaddressfield(aspertheaboveexample
whichu'vespecified).
Hopethishelps:)

Reply Share

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AnnuPurohit>NishuSharma 4monthsago

Herewhatwearecallingalinkedlistisanarrayofstructure
variables.Sosupposewehavefilledallthefiveplacesthenthememory
willbefull.Sothisimpliesthatthisisfixedsizeallocation.Howcoulditbe
dynamic??

Reply Share

AdautaGarciaAriel ayearago

Ilikedthisapproachit'slike"Thinkingoutsideofthebox".
1

Reply Share

GokulRama 3daysago

WhyalltheexplanationisforCandnotforJava?

Reply Share

RajatMaheshwari 7daysago

insteadoftheiruseinembeddedsystem,practically&fromthatimeanincoding
problemshowshoulditbehelpfulorefficient...itwillbegoodifsomeonegavemean
example.

Reply Share

DeSaini 12daysago

thisisreallyhelpful,thankyou

Reply Share

Sahil amonthago

Cananyonepleaseexplaintheuseof0and5index?

Reply Share

Sahil>Sahil amonthago

iamconfused..ithinkitshouldntbe5,itshouldbe4.
Andnowsupposeifiusedthisnodetoinsertmydata.thentheindexwill
changeto1?

Reply Share

amit>Sahil amonthago

6nodes.Soindexwouldbe0to5

Reply Share

SohamGoswami 5monthsago

pleaseaddnextandpreviousbuttonsinthepage,itispainstakingotherwise!thank
you..

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Peri 6monthsago

Goodexplanation&insightonarrays/linkedlist&implementingoneviaanother.
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KeepUpthegoodwork!Cheers!!

Reply Share

Adithya 6monthsago

Shouldn'titbecallocinsteadofmallocwhenyouallocatememoryfor*dynArr?

Reply Share

RandeepJohar 7monthsago

Isthecontentgivenisright.Manyincorrectthingshavebeenmentioned

Reply Share

HimanshuMishra 7monthsago

Inveryfirstarraydrawing,lastmemorylocationshouldbe0x10Candnot0x10B.So
addresseswillbe0x1000x1040x1080x10C

Reply Share

AkshAyShaRma 7monthsago

Mind=Blown!!

Reply Share

PrashantChauhan 8monthsago

Pleaseprovidehowtoinitializethisarrayoflistincodeinc.

Reply Share

Deep 8monthsago

Also,oncewedeletethesecondnodethenumberinthefirstnodeshouldnotchange.
Itshouldremainas[(1),1]ratherthan[(1),2].

Reply Share

PrashantChauhan 8monthsago

Cananybodytellmehowtoimplementarrayoflinklist.Howmemorywillallocate
diagrameticallyinheap

Reply Share

NehaRani 8monthsago

"Theabovelinkedlistwhichisrepresentedusingtwoindexes(0and5)hastwolinked
lists:"
itshouldbe0and4

Reply Share

RaAlice 8monthsago

somebodyhelp!!!Can'tunderstandwatrthe2indexes(0,5)??

Reply Share

RaAlice 8monthsago

*indynamicallocationofarray
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Reply Share

RaAlice 8monthsago

whiledoingdynamicallocation,howcanweknowthatnewly(thrudynamicallocation)
formedarrayiscontiguous.

Reply Share

HarmanpreetSingh 8monthsago

ican'tunderstandtheconceptofmaintaininglinkedlistofemptynodesanddatanodes
.
Furthermoreiseetheexamplegivenaboveusesmorethantwoindexesnotjust0and
5.
Kindlypleaseexplain.

Reply Share

RohitSaluja 10monthsago

Itismentionedabovethattheheadofthelinkedlististhenodewhichhasthevalue0
asofthenext_nodebut
Now,ifthislinkedlistisupdatedwithfourelementsofdatapart4,3,2and1
successively,itwouldlookasfollowsinmemory.Thislinkedlistcanbeviewedas
0x500>0x508>0x510>0x518.
[(1),1][(2),2][(3),3][(4),2][(0),1]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x520
Butinthisaboveexamplethereisnosuchnodewiththevalueas0ofthenext_node.
Sowhytheheadlocationis0X500?

Reply Share

KanikaJain>RohitSaluja 8monthsago

Thislinkedlistisdenotedby"head"index0.(zerothinthearray).

Reply Share

PusapatiRamabrahmam>KanikaJain 4monthsago

ifindex0istheheadthenifweaddonemoreelementitmusthavetobe
addedashead,atthattime,doallthenodesindexestobechanged??

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jitinmaherchandani 10monthsago

Addnextandpreviousbuttonsfornavigationtothearticles

Reply Share

MahendraChhimwal ayearago

YuppIamwithAnmol.Pleaseprovideanextandprevioustutorial'slinkforbetter
navigationthroughtutorials.

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Zac ayearago

(eachoneoccupying8bytes)

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(eachoneoccupying8bytes)
[(0),1][(0),1][(0),1][(0),1][(0),1]
0x5000x5080x5100x5180x520
butaddressingiswrongforthirdnode.Itshouldbe0x516?

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IshanGupta>Zac 10monthsago

Thatishexadecimalnotion.Inhexadecimalafter8come,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,then
againitstartswith10.Asin,8+8=10,likeinbinarywhereadding1+1=10.

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Thiscommentwasdeleted.

fadoo>Guest 10monthsago

bc......

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Piyush ayearago

Well,iamslightlyconfusedatthepartwheretwoindexeswereusedtomaintainthelist
[listwithactualnodes&listofemptynodes].cansomebodypls.elaborate.

Reply Share

DS+Algo>Piyush 10monthsago

wegottwolinkedlistsnow,oneformaintainingdatalistandotherforemptylist
toallocateordeallocatememoryfast
1

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xerosanyam ayearago

Thisarticleisslightlylessclearinonereading.Itisnicethough.:)

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Thiscommentwasdeleted.

@geeksforgeeksSomerightsreservedContactUs!AboutUs!

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