Data is only a collection of raw numbers, facts, and figures, or you can say data are values or a set of values that are in a specific configuration. Data refers to a set of values. Data items are then categorized into sub-things which are the group of items that are not being known as a plain elementary form of items.
Let us take an example where the name of a student may be divided into three sub-things to be specific: first name, center name and last name. But the ID that is appointed to the student would normally be considered as a single thing.
In the example mentioned above such as ID, Age, Gender, First, Middle, Last, Street, Area, and so on. are basic information things, whereas (Name, Address) is a group of data items.
What are data structures?
In digital terms, a data structure is a Specific method to store and organize out data in a PC's memory so that the memory is utilized in a better and efficient way. Data may be arranged in different ways, for example, the logical-mathematical model for a specific association of data is named as a data structure.
- Firstly, it must be loaded enough in structure to mirror the actual relationship of the data with the real-world object.
- Secondly, the formation should be simple and straightforward so that anybody can process the data each time it is necessary.
The data structure can be subdivided into major types:
Linear Data Structure
Non-linear Data Structure
1.Linear data structures
A data structure is said to be linear if its components combine to form any specific order.
There are two techniques of representing such a linear data structure within memory.
The first way is to provide the linear relationship among all elements represented using linear memory location (Data Structure Tutorials).
The second technique is to provide a linear relationship among all the elements represented by using the concept of pointers or links. These linear structures are termed as linked lists.
Examples of the linear data structure are:
Arrays
Queues
Stacks
Linked lists
2. Non-Linear data structures
This structure is mostly utilized for representing data that contains a hierarchical relationship among different components.
Examples of Non-Linear Data Structures are listed below:
Graphs
the family of trees and
table of contents
Tree: In this case, data often contain a hierarchical relationship among different components (Data Structure Tutorials).
The data structure that reflects this relationship is named as a rooted tree diagram or a tree.
Graph: In this case, data sometimes hold a relationship between the pairs of elements which isn't really necessarily following the hierarchical structure.
Such a data structure is termed as a Graph.
This was a brief overview of what are data structures and why we are using them.
I have made Data Structure Tutorials for beginners which will help you guys in university exams, competitive exams and interviews. I have tried my best to explain you in the most simplest way possible. You can learn about data structures by pressing the links below: