Data Structure

Home » Computer Science » Data Structure

In a computer, we need a proper system of storing and retrieval of data. Such system is called data structure. Data structures provide a means to maintain and manipulate large amount of data efficiently.

Data structures are used in almost every program or software for manipulation of data. Manipulation of data requires the following tasks:

1. Storing of data
2. Transformation of data(Various operations performed on data)
• Insertion
• Deletion
• Traversal
• Searching
• Sorting etc.
3. Retrieval of data

Data Structure

A data structure is a format of storing, organizing, transforming and retrieving data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently.

There are two major categories of data structures:

1. Primitive data structures
2. Non-primitive data structures

The most popular data structures that are used in developing software systems are as follows:

1. Array
2. Linked Lists
3. Stacks
4. Queues
5. Trees
6. Graphs