Data structures

  • Authors:
  • Peter Wegner;Edwin D. Reilly

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-

  • Venue:
  • Encyclopedia of Computer Science
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

The term structure is used in many different fields to denote objects that are constructed from their components in a regular and characteristic way. Loosely, a data structure is a structure whose components are data objects. As the term is used more precisely in computer science, a data structure is a collection of data values, the relationships among them, and the functions or operations that can be applied to the data. If any one of these three characteristics is missing or not stated precisely, the structure being examined does not qualify as a data structure.