Topic- Operations on Data Structure
Subject Name/Code- Data Structure/CD 303
CSE- Data Science
Operations on different Data Structure:
There are different types of operations that can be performed for the
manipulation of data in every data structure. Some operations are explained and
illustrated below:
Traversing:
Traversal of a data structure can be defined as the process of visiting every
element of a data structure at least once.
This operation is most commonly used for printing, searching, displaying
or reading the elements stored in the data structure.
Traversal can be useful when all the elements of the data structure have to
be manipulated in similar way.
Insertion:
Once a data structure is created, it can be extended by adding new
elements. The process of adding new elements in an existing data structure
is called insertion.
A linked list and an array allow a user to insert a new element at any
location.
A stack and a queue allow a user to insert a new element only at a specific
end.
New nodes can be added to a graph or tree in a random fashion.
For all the data structure the insertion can be done till the data structure has
enough space to store new elements either due to its defined size or
memory availability. A condition when a user tries to insert a new element
in a data structure that does not have the needed space for new element is
called Overflow
Deletion
Once a data structure is created, a user can remove any of the existing
elements and free up the space occupied by it. The process of deleting an
existing element from a data structure is called deletion.
A linked list and an array allow a user to delete an existing element at any
location i.e. start, mid or end.
A stack and a queue allow a user to delete an element only at a specific
end.
Nodes can be deleted from a graph or tree in a random fashion.
For all the data structure the deletion can be done till the data structure has
elements. A condition when a user tries to delete an element from a data
structure that does not have any element is called Underflow
Search
The process of locating an element in data structure and returning its index
or address is called Search.
This is the most commonly used operation in a data structure. Since a data
structure stores data in an organized fashion for convenient processing, it
is important that an element could be easily located in a data structure.
When performing search in a data structure a key value is needed, this is
matched with the values stored in the data structure. When the value of the
element matches the key value successful search is done and the search
operation returns the location of that element. If the key value does not
match any element in the data structure and reaches end, it is unsuccessful
search and a null location is returned as a result of search operation.
Sorting
The process of arranging the data elements in a data structure in a specific
order (ascending or descending) by specific key values is called sorting.
The students records stored in an array can be sorted by their registration
numbers, names or the scores. In each sorting the criteria will be different
to fulfill the processing needs of a user.
Sorting may result in physical relocation of elements or it can be just a
rearrangement of key values as index without changing the physical
address of complete data element
Merging
Merging can be defined as the process of combining elements of two data
structures. In a simpler form merging can be treated as appending set of
elements of one data structure after elements of another data structure of
same element structure.
For example two arrays containing student data of two different classes
with same fields to form one list. The final data structure may or may not
be sorted.
Another form of merging can be to merge two data structure of different
constructions to create totally new data structure.
