Discussion: Data Structures

Programmers try to solve problems that occur in daily life, such as creating a "to do" list. There are many apps for mobile devices that allow a user to keep track of tasks that need to be accomplished and other tasks that have been accomplished. A data structure will store that data. Choose a type of data that you might see in day-to-day life, such as a grocery list, a contact list, employee records, or stock prices. In your initial post:

Describe the day-to-day scenario that you chose.

Identify the type of data structure (array, vector, or linked list) that could best be used to store the data.

Explain why. Think about the speed of the operations when determining the data structure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Class,

The scenario I chose is traveling in a car and using a map application, having multiple destinations set along the way.

I believe that a linked list would be the best data structure for this, as it allows for efficient adding and removal of intermediate stops. In addition, when using a map we generally don't need direct access to the stops, just sequential access. This is usually the big flaw with linked lists due to how inefficient it is to follow the chain multiple times to access points in the middle or near the end.

Since data structures are used to store data in an organized form, and data is the most crucial entity in computer science, the true worth of data structures is clear.

answer only this.

In your response to your peer post, consider the following:

How would choosing a different data structure for the specified data affect the performance of an algorithm?

Why is choosing a data structure important?