Introduction:
In the modern world, Data and its information is an essential part, and various implementations are being made to store in differentways.
- Data is just a collection of facts and figures, or data are values or set of values that are in a particular format.
- A data item refers to a single set of values.
- Data items are then further categorized into sub- items which are the group of items which are not being called a plain elementary form of items.
Consider an example where the name of the student may be divided into three sub-items namely: first name, middle name and last name, but the ID that is assigned to a student would normally be considered as a single item.
Definition:
The Data structure is defined as a specific way to store, organize, manipulate and process the data in a computer's memory with allowed operations, so that these data can be used efficiently later.
Data may be arranged in many different ways such as the logical or mathematical model for a particular organization of data is termed as a data structure.
Data structure also maintains the logical relationship existing between individual data elements. Set of a well-defined algorithm and data structure makes a computer program efficient. Data structures are considered as the main building blocks of a computer program hence selection of data structure is important.
Selection of Data structure must possesses 2 steps,
- The data structure must be powerful enough to handle the different relationship existing between thedata.
- The structure of data to be simple, so that user can efficiently process data whenrequired.
The variety of a specific data model depends on the two factors -
Firstly, it must be loaded enough in structure to reflect the actual relationships of the data with the real worldobject.
Secondly, the formation should be simple enough so that anyone can efficiently process the data each time it is necessary.
Specification of data structure:
- Organization ofdata
- Accessingmethods
- Degree ofassociativity
- Processing alternatives forinformation
