08-09-2017, 10:25 AM
In computer science, a data structure is a particular way of organizing data into a computer so that it can be used efficiently. 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 to efficiently manage large amounts of data for uses such as large databases and indexing services on the Internet. 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 storage and retrieval of stored information in both main memory and secondary memory.