3 - Data Structures: The Building Blocks

Abstract

Turbo C is not just a powerful low-level programming tool for developing system type programs, but it also provides a rich set of tools or primitives for creating both static and dynamic data structures. The chapter discusses the terms static and dynamic structures. The static data structures are the easiest type of structures to design and program. There are a few common structures such as are constant strings, arrays, tables, and lists that everybody is familiar with in this category. Once they are defined in a program, static structures never change. In Turbo C, static data structures can be easily built using built-in features such as arrays and structures. The chapter presents a more complete list of the tools used to create static data structures. The dynamic data structures are more difficult to program. They are needed by programs that manipulate data which changes in size such as editors, compilers, and database programs. A few of the more common structures in this category include dynamic lists and strings, dynamic arrays, stacks and queues, graphs, and binary trees.