Arrays and Linked Lists

In the world of programming, arrays and linked lists are two fundamental data structures that play a crucial role in organizing and manipulating data efficiently. These data structures provide different approaches to store and access data, each with its own advantages and use cases.

Arrays

Arrays are ordered collections of elements of the same type. They provide random access to the elements through an index, making it easy to retrieve or modify elements at any position in constant time. One key advantage of arrays is their ability to store multiple elements of the same type in contiguous memory locations, which allows for efficient memory management.

Let's take a look at an example:

1int[] array = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
2System.out.println("Array: " + Arrays.toString(array));

The output of the above code will be:

1Array: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Linked Lists

Linked lists, on the other hand, are dynamic data structures that consist of nodes connected together through pointers. Each node holds a value and a reference to the next node in the sequence. Unlike arrays, linked lists do not require contiguous memory allocation.

Let's see an example of a linked list:

1LinkedList<Integer> linkedList = new LinkedList<>();
2linkedList.add(1);
3linkedList.add(2);
4linkedList.add(3);
5linkedList.add(4);
6linkedList.add(5);
7System.out.println("Linked List: " + linkedList);

The output of the above code will be:

1Linked List: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

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class Main {

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    int[] array = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};

    System.out.println("Array: " + Arrays.toString(array));

    LinkedList<Integer> linkedList = new LinkedList<>();

    linkedList.add(1);

    linkedList.add(2);

    linkedList.add(3);

    linkedList.add(4);

    linkedList.add(5);

    System.out.println("Linked List: " + linkedList);

  }

}