Introduction to LinkedList ep01

A joke to begin with..

Why did the LinkedList go to the party?

Because it wanted to connect with all the nodes and have a great time linking up with friends!

hahaha 😂

Thinking about what this joke is all about?

Well today, we're going on an exciting journey into the world of LinkedLists.

Don't worry, it's not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, it's a lot like making friends and linking arms with them. So, let's get started on this fun and informative adventure!

Imagine you're at a big party with lots of friends. Everyone wants to chat and have a good time, but how do you keep track of who's talking to whom?

Well, that's where LinkedLists come in handy. They help us connect our friends in a chain-like structure, just like holding hands or linking arms!

Let's use a real-life example to understand LinkedLists better.

Imagine you have a bunch of toy cars lined up on the floor. Each car is connected to the one in front of it with a little hook. That's how LinkedLists work too! They connect different elements together, just like our toy cars. Each element in the list is called a "node," and it holds some special information.

Technically, a LinkedList is a data structure that consists of a sequence of elements called nodes. Each node contains two parts: the data itself and a reference (or pointer) to the next node in the sequence. The LinkedList is formed by connecting these nodes together.

Unlike arrays, LinkedLists do not require contiguous memory allocation. Each node can be dynamically allocated, allowing for efficient memory usage.

Insertion and deletion operations can be performed efficiently by adjusting the references between nodes, without the need to shift or resize the entire structure.

Here is the pictorial representation of how LinkedLists look like:

Imagine a Linked list like a train in which each carriage is connected to the next by a chain. Just like a train can be made up of different types of carriages, each node in a linked list can hold different types of data.

The first carriage, or node, is called the head and it holds the address of the next carriage, allowing it to point to the next node in the list.

This way, you can easily traverse the list by following the chain of pointers, just like walking through a train carriage by carriage.

And just like you can add or remove carriages to a train, you can add or remove nodes to a linked list by adjusting the pointers accordingly.

It may seem complex, but just like a train, once you get the hang of it, it's a smooth ride!

Hope you enjoyed reading

Keep learning!

Now what?

Check out the following blogs for arrays :

Introduction to arrays:

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/18

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/19

Basic operations on arrays:

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/20

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/21

Introduction to multidimensional arrays:

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/22

Basic operations on multidimensional arrays:

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/23

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/24

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/25

Solved question on array:

https://madalgos.in/blog-space/26