A data structure is “a particular way of storing and
organizing data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently.” There are many
different kinds of data structures. Usually one data structure is chosen over
another because it is more useful to the task at hand than other data
structures. Some examples of data
structures are arrays, records, hash tables, unions, sets, graphs and objects. The
purpose of all of these is to manage large amounts of data efficiently. For
example, an array stores its elements in a specific order. There is an index
and an element. The index tells where in the array that the element is stored.
The element in an array can often be of any data type. Arrays, for example, can
usually always contain other data structures within them such as a nested
array, where one array is nested inside another one.
Data structures are part of the beauty of modern high level coding
languages. They can store data in many more ways than just the few primitive
data types of many years ago. Being able to store data in so many more complex data
structures shortens the amount of time and code that it takes to manipulate the
data itself. The more modern data structures save even more time when it comes
to entering large amounts of data as well. Overall, data structures are one of
the most important concepts to modern computer science because without a way to
store the data, how could we ever hope to manipulate it?
Source: http://xlinux.nist.gov/dads//
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