looking for data structure by puntambekar
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Joined: Oct 2014
A data structure is a specialized format for organizing and storing data. General data structure types include the array, the file, the record, the table, the tree, and so on. Any data structure is designed to organize the data to fit a specific purpose so that it can be accessed and worked in the appropriate way. In computer programming, a data structure can be selected or designed to store data in order to work with various algorithms. Data structures can implement one or more specific abstract data types (ADTs), which specify the operations that can be performed on a data structure and the computational complexity of those operations. In comparison, a data structure is a concrete implementation of the specification provided by an ADT.
Different types of data structures fit different types of applications, and some are highly specialized for specific tasks. For example, relational databases typically use B-tree indexes for data retrieval, while compiler implementations typically use hash tables to search for identifiers. Data structures provide a means for efficiently managing large amounts of data for uses such as large databases and Internet indexing services. Efficient data structures are typically key to designing efficient algorithms. Some formal design methods and programming languages emphasize data structures, rather than algorithms, as the key organizing factor in software design. Data structures can be used to organize the storage and retrieval of stored information in both main memory and secondary memory.