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Java 9 Data Structures and Algorithms

You're reading from   Java 9 Data Structures and Algorithms A step-by-step guide to data structures and algorithms

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Product type Paperback
Published in Apr 2017
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781785889349
Length 340 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Languages
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Author (1):
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Debasish Ray Chawdhuri Debasish Ray Chawdhuri
Author Profile Icon Debasish Ray Chawdhuri
Debasish Ray Chawdhuri
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Table of Contents (13) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Why Bother? – Basic FREE CHAPTER 2. Cogs and Pulleys – Building Blocks 3. Protocols – Abstract Data Types 4. Detour – Functional Programming 5. Efficient Searching – Binary Search and Sorting 6. Efficient Sorting – quicksort and mergesort 7. Concepts of Tree 8. More About Search – Search Trees and Hash Tables 9. Advanced General Purpose Data Structures 10. Concepts of Graph 11. Reactive Programming Index

Chapter 2. Cogs and Pulleys – Building Blocks

We discussed algorithms in the previous chapter, but the title of the book also includes the term "data structure." So what is a data structure? A data structure is an organization of data in memory that is generally optimized so it can be used by a particular algorithm. We have seen that an algorithm is a list of steps that leads to a desired outcome. In the case of a program, there is always some input and output. Both input and output contain data and hence must be organized in some way or another. Therefore, the input and output of an algorithm are data structures. In fact, all the intermediate states that an algorithm has to go through must also be stored in some form of a data structure. Data structures don't have any use without algorithms to manipulate them, and algorithms cannot work without data structures. It's because this is how they get input and emit output or store their intermediate states...

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