What is the difference between linear and nonlinear data structures

Data structure is a way of storing and managing data. There are two types of data structures: linear and non-linear data structures. The following article will introduce to you the difference between linear and nonlinear data structures. I hope it will be helpful to you.

What is a linear data structure?

A linear data structure is a data structure that has data elements in sequence. In a linear data structure, adjacent elements are connected to each other. However, these data structures do not make better use of memory; therefore, it can result in wasted memory.

Arrays, linked lists, stacks, and queues are some common examples of linear data structures. Arrays store data elements of the same data type. A linked list is a data structure containing a set of nodes; each node stores the data and address of another node. These nodes are connected together to form a chain-like structure.

What is a non-linear data structure?

Nonlinear data structures store data in a non-sequential manner. It forms a hierarchical relationship between child elements and parent elements. In other words, data items are connected to each other, creating relationships between them. It is not possible to insert elements in order, delete elements or browse elements. Generally, these data structures are more memory efficient.

Trees and graphs are the most common nonlinear data structures. A tree data structure represents nodes connected by edges, and a binary tree is a tree data structure. Each node in a binary tree can have up to two child nodes.

For example, in the binary tree below, 2 is the parent node, while 7 and 5 are child nodes.

Also, a graph is another data structure consisting of nodes and edges.

The difference between linear and non-linear data structures

1. Storage method

In a linear data structure, data is organized in a linear sequence where elements are linked one after the other.

In a non-linear data structure, data elements are not stored sequentially, but in a hierarchical relationship.

#2. Traversing data

Traversing data in a linear data structure is easy because it allows all data elements to be traversed at once , but only one element can be directly accessed at a time.

In non-linear data structures, nodes are not accessed sequentially and cannot be traversed at once.

3. Memory utilization

In the linear data structure, it does not provide us with effective memory utilization. , and in non-linear data structures, efficient memory utilization can be obtained.

4. Complexity

Linear data structures are relatively simple and easy to use. Non-linear data structures are complex data structures that prove to be intractable to some extent.

5. Example

Examples of linear data structures are arrays, queues, stacks, linked lists, etc. Examples of non-linear data structures are trees, charts, etc.

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