Data Structures 102: Operations on Data Structures

In the last post, we looked at what data structures are and the types of data structures that we have. I talked a bit about the space and time complexity of a data structure. In order to be able to fully analyze the space and/or time complexity of a data structure, we have to fully understand the operations which can be performed by using a particular data structure. This is what this post is all about.

Operations on Data Structures

Several operations can be carried out on a given data structure. These involve:

1. Creation: this is the initial step that involves defining the data structure.
2. Insertion: this is the addition of new members to a data structure.
3. Traversal: this is visiting all the elements in a data structure.
4. Searching: this involves looking for element(s) in a data structure. This is different from traversal as you may not visit all the elements in your data structure.
5. Deletion: this is the complete removal of a data structure.
6. Updation: this is modifying the data structure after its creation. The elements of some data structures can be updated while some can’t. The data structures that can be updated are known as being mutable. In Python, lists, sets, and dictionaries can be updated while tuples cannot.
7. Sorting: this is the arrangement of items in a data structure in a particular order.
8. Merging: this involves bringing together two or more different data structures and making them one.

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