DATA STRUCTURES & C# GENERICS

Trent Spangler | Greg Phelps

OUTLINE

Data Structures

• Importance

• Definition

• Examples

• Different Structure Types

• Uses

C# Generics

• Definition

• Pros & Cons

• In Depth

Why are data structures important?

• Store and manage large amounts of data efficiently• Databases

• Sorting or Indexing Services.

• Search structures for information we want

DATA STRUCTURES

“A particular way of storing and

organizing data.”

Real-world Examples

Structure Types

Array

Linked List

Sorted List

Trees

Hash Table

Queues & Stacks

Arrays

“systematic arrangement of

objects, usually in rows and columns”

1, 2, and 3 Dimensional

Linked List

• Data stored in a “node” which means it contains data and a reference to the next node in the sequence

• Advantage:• Easy insertion or deletion without reorganization

• Disadvantage:• Must search from the beginning because lists are

sequential/ordered

Sorted List

Similar to Linked List

“Nodes” are sorted and are inserted accordingly

Trees

Each “node” has no more than two children, referred to as left and right.

Example

Hash Table

Value = phone #

Key = Sandvig

Hash(Sandvig) 5

Hash(Gandalf) 5

Queues & Stacks

Push: insert

Pop: extract

Peek: examine

STACTIVITY

GENERICSWhat are they?

A simple definition:

“Generics allow you to define type-

safe data structures, without

committing to actual data types.”

GenericsPros & Cons

• Pros• Code Reusability

• Type Safety

• Increased performance from less code

• Cons• Complexity

• Learning curve

Mainly used with collections/data

structures

Generics In Depth

• Information is stored in objects instead of variables

• Note: You cannot implicitly convert type object to other data types (int, string, etc.)

DraculaExplanation

ofGenerics

REFERENCES • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_structure

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

• http://codersbarn.com/post/2008/04/09/What-are-C-Generics-Part-I.aspx