What is your favorite data structure?

[Anonymous]

Array

Stack

Queue

Linked List

Binary Search Tree

What?

Updates

+1 y

//Wow! I thought binary search trees would win!
//Personally, I think this is the most beautiful algorithm ever written
public Node search (Node root, int key) {
if (root==null root. key==key)
return root;
if (root. key < key)
return search (root. right, key);
return search (root. left, key);
}

[AviatorTom]

I wrote software for many years for real-time systems. Linked lists were the main data structures used, mainly because they can be updated very quickly. On the downside, searching is relatively slow in a linked list, unless you can design and code the software to maintain the linked list to facilitate the typical search. That isn't always possible though.

[Asker]

What kind of data was it? I do call centers. We use lists all the time but binary search will forever blow my mind.

[AviatorTom]

It was part of a message passing scheme between different processes... electric power control software

[NetSapien]

Arrays all the way.

Probably because it's the first data structure I was exposed to in both coding and spreadsheets in the 80s. As such is easier for me visualize and follow the structure in my mind as I work, specially when needing to convert mono-dimensional to multi-dimensional.

[Asker]

Multi-dimensional? For game engines or what?

[NetSapien]

Can be in game engines, it's particularly easy to do in Lua scripting engines, but general C coding also.

For example, a 2D/multi-dimensional array

/* 2D Array (3 'rows', 4 'columns') */
int a[3][4] = { {0, 1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6, 7}, {8, 9, 10, 11} };

/* later referenced */
int val = a[2][3];

[NetSapien]

would be essentially the same way it's used in a spreadsheet

https://imgur.com/a/YTNkjZr

[Anonymous]

Enormous list of objects that self shuffle for 0 reason at three randomly selected points in the code.

[Asker]

This could actually be quite useful.

[LesterJester]

Q-Basic.

Or Commodore 64... LOAD "*", 8,1 Baby!

[Asker]

FILE NOT FOUND ERROR

[normalice]

I mean, they all have their uses but probably arrays are the most common that i use.

[Snakeyes7]

Man linked lists are such a pain to make from scratch.

[Apulu_3]

I use array for my projects most of the time.

[exitseven]

I used to use stacks when I did searches.

[Neosporin]

I don't know maybe queue? can't say for sure

[slatyb]

Push-down automata