Introduction to Data Structures

This chapter is from the book

Absolute Beginner's Guide to Algorithms: A Practical Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms in JavaScript

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This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book 

Absolute Beginner's Guide to Algorithms: A Practical Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms in JavaScript

Learn More Buy

Back to Data Structures

When it comes to programming and computers, deciding which data structure to use is similar to deciding whether to store our tools in a cardboard box or a toolbox. Every data structure we will encounter is good for some situations and bad for other situations (Figure 1-5).

FIGURE 1-5 A good fit in this case

Knowing which data structure to use and when is an important part of being an effective developer, and the data structures we need to deeply familiarize ourselves with are

• Arrays

• Linked lists

• Stacks

• Queues

• Introduction to trees

• Binary trees

• Binary search trees

• Heap data structure

• Hashtable (aka hashmap or dictionary)

• Trie (aka prefix tree)