Introduction to Data Structures

Lesson 1: Overview of Data Structures

Data structures in C are used to organize and manage data efficiently. They provide a way to store and manipulate collections of data, enabling various operations like insertion, deletion, traversal, and searching.

Common Data Structures:
- Arrays: Contiguous collection of elements accessed by index.
- Linked Lists: Collection of nodes where each node points to the next node.
- Stacks: Last In First Out (LIFO) data structure.
- Queues: First In First Out (FIFO) data structure.
- Trees: Hierarchical data structure with nodes and parent-child relationships.
- Graphs: Non-linear data structure with nodes and edges.

Lesson 2: Basic Concepts of Linked Lists

linked list is a linear data structure where elements are stored in nodes. Each node contains data and a reference (or pointer) to the next node in the sequence.

Types of Linked Lists:
- Singly Linked List: Each node points to the next node in the sequence.
- Doubly Linked List: Each node has pointers to both the next and previous nodes.
- Circular Linked List: Last node points back to the first node, forming a circular structure.
Components of a Node:
- Data: Contains the actual data element.
- Next Pointer: Points to the next node in the list.

Lesson 3: Operations on Linked Lists

Linked lists support various operations for manipulating the list contents.

Basic Operations:
- Insertion:
  - Insert at the beginning (insertAtBeginning()).
  - Insert at the end (insertAtEnd()).
  - Insert at a specific position (insertAtPosition()).
- Deletion:
  - Delete from the beginning (deleteFromBeginning()).
  - Delete from the end (deleteFromEnd()).
  - Delete a specific node (deleteNode()).
- Traversal:
  - Traverse the entire list (traverse()).
- Other Operations:
  - Get the length of the list (length()).
  - Search for an element (search()).

Lesson 4: Practice and Examples

Practice Exercise:
- Implement a singly linked list with basic operations (insertion, deletion, traversal).
- Write a function to reverse a linked list.
- Develop a program that merges two sorted linked lists into a single sorted list.

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>
// Node structure for singly linked list

struct Node {

    int data;

    struct Node *next;

};
// Function to insert a new node at the beginning of the linked list

void insertAtBeginning(struct Node **headRef, int newData) {

    struct Node *newNode = (struct Node *)malloc(sizeof(struct Node));

    newNode->data = newData;

    newNode->next = *headRef;

    *headRef = newNode;

}
// Function to traverse and print the elements of the linked list

void traverse(struct Node *head) {

    struct Node *current = head;

    while (current != NULL) {

        printf("%d -> ", current->data);

        current = current->next;

    }

    printf("NULLn");

}
// Function to delete the first node from the linked list

void deleteFromBeginning(struct Node **headRef) {

    if (*headRef == NULL) {

        printf("List is empty. Nothing to delete.n");

        return;

    }

    struct Node *temp = *headRef;

    *headRef = (*headRef)->next;

    free(temp);

}
int main() {

    struct Node *head = NULL;
    // Insert elements at the beginning of the linked list

    insertAtBeginning(&head, 10);

    insertAtBeginning(&head, 20);

    insertAtBeginning(&head, 30);
    // Traverse and print the linked list

    printf("Linked List: ");

    traverse(head);
    // Delete the first node from the linked list

    deleteFromBeginning(&head);

    printf("After deletion: ");

    traverse(head);

return 0; }

Linked lists are fundamental data structures that facilitate dynamic memory allocation and efficient insertion/deletion operations. Practice implementing basic operations on linked lists (insertion, deletion, traversal) to gain a deeper understanding of how linked lists work. Experiment with more advanced operations like reversing a linked list or merging two sorted linked lists to enhance your proficiency in using linked list data structures in C programming. Understanding linked lists prepares you for learning other complex data structures and algorithms used in software development and systems programming.

Lesson 1: Overview of Data Structures

Lesson 2: Basic Concepts of Linked Lists

Lesson 3: Operations on Linked Lists

Lesson 4: Practice and Examples

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