The tree list-introducing a data structure

Abstract

The array and the linked list are two classic data structures. The array allows constant time random access (achieved in C language with the [] operator) but suffers from its fixed size and relative inflexibility (the latter becomes an issue while performing deletions). The linked list, on the other hand allows dynamic allocation of memory leading to greater flexibility (manifested in easy insertions and deletions) but suffers from slow search speed - O(N). We describe a complete binary tree-based data structure which we call TREE LIST. It allows dynamic allocation of memory (hence free from many of the fixed size issues of the array) and provides random access with O(log N) complexity - which is an improvement over the linked list although not as fast as the array. We also discuss some other aspects of this data structure - in particular how it supports some of the classic sorting algorithms.