WHAT IS DATA STRUCTURE?

A data structure is a data organization, management and storage format that enable efficient access
and modification. a data structure is a collection of data values, the relationships among them, and the
functions or operations that can be applied to the data.

Data Structures are the main part of many computer science algorithms as they enable the programmers to
handle the data in an efficient way. It plays a vital role in enhancing the performance of software or a program as
the main function of the software is to store and retrieve the user's data as fast as possible

Data structures are the building blocks of any program or the software. Choosing the appropriate data
structure for a program is the most difficult task for a programmer. Following terminology is used as far as data
structures are concerned.
DATA: Data can be defined as an elementary value or the collection of value.
For example, student's name and its id are the data about the student.

GROUP ITEMS: Data items which have subordinate data items are called Group item.
For example, name of a student can have first name and the last name.

RECORD: Record can be defined as the collection of various data items.

For example, if we talk about the student entity, then its name, address, course and marks can be grouped
together to form the record for the student.

FILE: A File is a collection of various records of one type of entity,

For example, if there are 60 students in the class, then there will be 20 records in the related file where each
record contains the data about each student.
ATTRIBUTE AND ENTITY: An entity represents the class of certain objects. it contains various attributes.
Each attribute represents the particular property of that entity.

FIELD: Field is a single elementary unit of information representing the attribute of an entity.

NEED OF DATA STRUCTURES

As applications are getting complex and amount of data is increasing day by day, there may arise the
following problems:

Processor speed: To handle very large amount of data, high speed processing is required, but as the data is
growing day by day to the billions of files per entity, processor may fail to deal with that much amount of data.

Data Search: Consider an inventory size of 106 items in a store, If our application needs to search for a particular
item, it needs to traverse 106 items every time, results in slowing down the search process.

Multiple requests: If thousands of users are searching the data simultaneously on a web server, then there are the
chances that a very large server can be failed during that process. In order to solve the above problems, data
structures are used. Data is organized to form a data structure in such a way that all items are not required to be
searched and required data can be searched instantly.
ADVANTAGES OF DATA STRUCTURES

Efficiency: Efficiency of a program depends upon the choice of data structures.

For example: suppose, we have some data and we need to perform the search for a particular record. In that
case, if we organize our data in an array, we will have to search sequentially element by element. Hence, using
array may not be very efficient here. There are better data structures which can make the search process efficient
like ordered array, binary search tree or hash tables.

Reusability: Data structures are reusable, i.e. once we have implemented a particular data structure, we can use it
at any other place. Implementation of data structures can be compiled into libraries which can be used by different
clients.

Abstraction: Data structure is specified by the ADT which provides a level of abstraction. The client program uses
the data structure through interface only, without getting into the implementation details.
DATA STRUCTURE CLASSIFICATION
OPERATIONS ON DATA STRUCTURE
1) Traversing: Every data structure contains the set of data elements. Traversing the data structure means visiting each element of the
data structure in order to perform some specific operation like searching or sorting.
Example: If we need to calculate the average of the marks obtained by a student in 6 different subject, we need to traverse the
complete array of marks and calculate the total sum, then we will divide that sum by the number of subjects i.e. 6, in order to find the
average.
2) Insertion: Insertion can be defined as the process of adding the elements to the data structure at any location.
If the size of data structure is n then we can only insert n-1 data elements into it.
3) Deletion: The process of removing an element from the data structure is called Deletion. We can delete an element from the data
structure at any random location.
If we try to delete an element from an empty data structure then underflow occurs.
4) Searching: The process of finding the location of an element within the data structure is called Searching. There are two algorithms
to perform searching, Linear Search and Binary Search.
5) Sorting: The process of arranging the data structure in a specific order is known as Sorting. There are many algorithms that can be
used to perform sorting, for example, insertion sort, selection sort, bubble sort, etc.
6) Merging: When two lists List A and List B of size M and N respectively, of similar type of elements, clubbed or joined to produce
the third list, List C of size (M+N), then this process is called merging
CHARACTERISTICS OF A DATA STRUCTURE
 Correctness − Data structure implementation should implement its interface correctly.
 Time Complexity − Running time or the execution time of operations of data structure must be as small as
possible.
 Space Complexity − Memory usage of a data structure operation should be as little as possible.

ALGORITHM
An algorithm is a procedure having well defined steps for solving a particular problem. Algorithm is finite set of logic or
instructions, written in order for accomplish the certain predefined task. It is not the complete program or code, it is just a
solution (logic) of a problem, which can be represented either as an informal description using a Flowchart or Pseudo code.
The major categories of algorithm are :
 Sort: Algorithm developed for sorting the items in certain order.
 Search: Algorithm developed for searching the items inside a data structure.
 Delete: Algorithm developed for deleting the existing element from the data structure.
 Insert: Algorithm developed for inserting an item inside a data structure.
 Update: Algorithm developed for updating the existing element inside a data structure.t
The performance of algorithm is measured on the basis of following properties:
Time complexity: It is a way of representing the amount of time needed by a program to run to the completion.

Space complexity: It is the amount of memory space required by an algorithm, during a course of its execution.
Space complexity is required in situations when limited memory is available and for the multi user system.

Each algorithm must have:

Specification: Description of the computational procedure.

Pre-conditions: The condition(s) on input.

Body of the Algorithm: A sequence of clear and unambiguous instructions.

Post-conditions: The condition(s) on output.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ALGORITHM
An algorithm must follow the mentioned below characteristics:

 Input: An algorithm must have 0 or well defined inputs.

 Output: An algorithm must have 1 or well defined outputs, and should match with the desired output.

 Feasibility: An algorithm must be terminated after the finite number of steps.

 Independent: An algorithm must have step-by-step directions which is independent of any programming

code.

 Unambiguous: An algorithm must be unambiguous and clear. Each of their steps and input/outputs must

be clear and lead to only one meaning.

ASYMPTOTIC
NOTATION
Asymptotic Notation:
A problem may have numerous (many) algorithmic solutions. In order to choose the best algorithm for a
particular task, you need to be able to judge how long a particular solution will take to run.

Asymptotic notation of an algorithm is a mathematical representation of its complexity

Asymptotic notation is used to judge the best algorithm among numerous algorithms for a particular problem.
Asymptotic complexity is a way of expressing the main component of algorithms like
 Cost
 Time complexity
 Space complexity
 Some Asymptotic notations are
1. Big ohO
2. OmegaΩ
3. Theta θ
4. Little oho
5. Little Omegaω

1. Big - Oh Notation (O)

 Big - Oh notation is used to define the upper bound of an algorithm in terms of Time Complexity.
 That means Big - Oh notation always indicates the maximum time required by an algorithm for all input
values. That means Big - Oh notation describes the worst case of an algorithm time complexity.

The function f(n) =O(g(n)) (read as “f of n is big oh of g of n) iff (if and only if) there exit positive constants
c and n0 such that f(n)<=c*g(n) for all n, n>=n0 f(n)=O(g(n))
Consider the following graph drawn for the values of f(n) and C g(n) for input (n) value on X-Axis and
time required is on Y-Axis

In above graph after a particular input value n0, always C g(n) is greater than f(n) which indicates the
algorithm's upper bound.
Example

Consider the following f(n) and g(n)...

f(n) = 3n + 2

g(n) = n

If we want to represent f(n) as O(g(n)) then it must satisfy f(n) <= C x g(n) for all values of C > 0 and n0>= 1

f(n) <= C g(n)

⇒3n + 2 <= C n

Above condition is always TRUE for all values of C = 4 and n >= 2.

By using Big - Oh notation we can represent the time complexity as follows...

3n + 2 = O(n)
Big - Omega Notation (Ω)

 Big - Omega notation is used to define the lower bound of an algorithm in terms of Time Complexity.
 That means Big - Omega notation always indicates the minimum time required by an algorithm for all
input values. That means Big - Omega notation describes the best case of an algorithm time complexity.

Big - Omega Notation can be defined as follows...

The function f(n) = Ω(g(n)) (read as “f of n is omega of g of n) iff (if and only if) there exit positive
constants c and n0 such that f(n)>=c*g(n) for all n, n>=n0

f(n) = Ω(g(n))
Consider the following graph drawn for the values of f(n) and C g(n) for input (n) value on X-
Axis and time required is on Y-Axis

In above graph after a particular input value n0, always C x g(n) is less than f(n) which indicates the
algorithm's lower bound.
EXAMPLE

Consider the following f(n) and g(n)...

f(n) = 3n + 2
g(n) = n
If we want to represent f(n) as Ω(g(n)) then it must satisfy f(n) >= C g(n) for all values of C > 0 and n0>= 1

f(n) >= C g(n)

⇒3n + 2 <= C n

Above condition is always TRUE for all values of C = 1 and n >= 1.

By using Big - Omega notation we can represent the time complexity as follows...
3n + 2 = Ω(n)
Big - Theta Notation (Θ)

 Big - Theta notation is used to define the average bound of an algorithm in terms of Time Complexity.

 That means Big - Theta notation always indicates the average time required by an algorithm for all input
values. That means Big - Theta notation describes the average case of an algorithm time complexity.

Big - Theta Notation can be defined as follows...

The function f(n) = Θ (g(n)) (read as “f of n is theta of g of n) iff (if and only if) there exist positive constants c1,c2
and n0 such thatc1*g(n)<= f(n)<=c2*g(n) for all n, n>=n0

f(n) = Θ(g(n))
Consider the following graph drawn for the values of f(n) and C g(n) for input (n) value on X-
Axis and time required is on Y-Axis

In above graph after a particular input value n0, always C1 g(n) is less than f(n) and C2 g(n) is greater
than f(n) which indicates the algorithm's average bound.
EXAMPLE

Consider the following f(n) and g(n)...

f(n) = 3n + 2
g(n) = n
If we want to represent f(n) as Θ(g(n)) then it must satisfy C1 g(n) <= f(n) >= C2 g(n) for all values of C1,
C2 > 0 and n0>= 1

C1 g(n) <= f(n) >= ⇒C2 g(n)

C1 n <= 3n + 2 >= C2 n

Above condition is always TRUE for all values of C1 = 1, C2 = 4 and n >= 1.

By using Big - Theta notation we can represent the time complexity as follows...
3n + 2 = Θ (n)
Little oh: o
The function f(n)=o(g(n)) (read as “f of n is little oh of g of n”) iff
Lim f(n)/g(n)=0 for all n, n≥0
n~
Example:
3n+2= o(n2) as
Lim ((3n+2)/n2)=0
n~

Little Omega:ω
The function f(n)= ω (g(n)) (read as “f of n is little ohomega of g of n”) iff
Lim g(n)/f(n)=0 for all n, n≥0
n~
Example:
3n+2= o(n2) as
Lim (n2/(3n+2) =0
n~