data Flashcards
What does the acronym LIFO mean?
last-in-first-out (LIFO) operations: the last thing pushed onto the stack is the first thing that can be poped out.
What methods are available on a Stack data structure?
push(value) - adds a value to the “top” of the stack
pop() - removes the top value from the stack and returns it
What must you do to access the value at an arbitrary point in a stack (not just the “top”)?
remove the top until we get to where we want in stack.
What does the acronym FIFO mean?
first-in-first-out (FIFO) operations: the last thing enqueued onto the queue is the first thing that can be dequeued out.
What methods are available on a Queue data structure?
enqueue(value) - adds a value to the “back” of the queue
dequeue() - removes the “front” value from the queue and returns it
What must you do to access the value at an arbitrary point in a queue (not just the “front”)?
remove from the front until we get to where we want in queue.
How are linked lists different from an array?
Linked lists are sequential access (like a queue), not random access (like an array).
How would you access an arbitrary node in a linked list (not just the “head”)?
in order to go to a specific place in the list, you have to start at the beginning, then jump from node to node until you get there.