Difference between Linear and Non Linear Data Structure

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

Contents

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

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

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 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