Difference between Linear and Non Linear Data Structure

Difference between Linear and Non-Linear Data Structure in Tabular Form

Comparison Between Linear and Non-Linear Data Structure

  • A data structure is simply the implementation of Abstract Data Types using suitable algorithms.
  • Mainly Data Structures are classified into two categories
    1. Linear
    2. Non-Linear
Data Structure
Data Structure

Comparison Chart

Linear Data Structure Non-Linear Data Structure
Every item is related to its previous and next time Every item is attached with many other items.
Data is arranged in a linear sequence. Data is not arranged in sequence
Data items can be traversed in a single run. Data cannot be traversed in a single run.
Examples: Linked List, Stack, Queue, etc. Examples: Trees, graphs, etc.
Implementation is easy. Implementation is difficult.
Memory utilization Ineffective Memory utilization Effective




Linear data structures

  • A data structure is said to be linear if its elements are connected in a linear fashion by means of logical or in sequence memory locations.
  • There are two ways to represent a linear data structure in memory,
    • Static memory allocation
    • Dynamic memory allocation
  • The possible operations on the linear data structure are Traversal, Insertion, Deletion, Searching, Sorting and Merging.
  • Examples of Linear Data Structure are Stack and Queue.
  • Stack: Stack is a data structure in which insertion and deletion operations are performed at one end only.
    • The insertion operation is referred to as ‘PUSH’ and deletion operation is referred to as ‘POP’ operation.
    • A stack is also called as Last in First out (LIFO) data structure.
  • Queue: The data structure which permits the insertion at one end and Deletion at another end, known as Queue.
    • The end at which deletion occurs is known as FRONT end and another end at which insertion occurs is known as a REAR end
    • A queue is also called a First in First out (FIFO) data structure.

Nonlinear data structures

  • Nonlinear data structures are those data structures in which data items are not arranged in a sequence.
  • Examples of Non-linear Data Structure are Tree and Graph.
  • Tree: A tree can be defined as a finite set of data items (nodes) in which data items are arranged in branches and sub-branches according to requirements.
    • Trees represent the hierarchical relationship between various elements
    • Tree consists of nodes connected by an edge, the node represented by a circle and edge lives connecting to the circle.
  • Graph: Graph is a collection of nodes (Information) and connecting edges (Logical relation) between nodes.
    • A tree can be viewed as a restricted graph.
    • Graphs have many types:
      • Un-directed Graph
      • Directed Graph
      • Mixed Graph
      • Multi-Graph
      • Simple Graph
      • Null Graph
      • Weighted Graph




More Difference