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Datastructures and algorithms, Part 2

Explore linked lists, stacks, queues, and trees

By Jeff Friesen, JavaWorld.com, 06/13/03

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Although you can create many kinds of linked lists, three popular linked list variants are the single, double, and circular linked lists. Let's explore those variants, beginning with the singly linked list.

Singly linked lists

A singly linked list is a linked list of nodes, where each node has a single link field. A reference variable holds a reference to the first node, each node (except the last) links to the next node, and the last node's link field contains null to signify the list's end. Although the reference variable is commonly named top, you can choose any name you want. Figure 2 presents a three-node singly linked list, where top references the A node, A connects to B, B connects to C, and C is the final node.

Figure 2. A three-node singly linked list contains connected nodes A, B, and C

One common singly linked list algorithm is node-insertion. That algorithm is somewhat involved because it must deal with four cases: when the node must be inserted before the first node; when the node must be inserted after the last node; when the node must be inserted between two nodes; and when the singly linked list does not exist. Before studying each case, consider the following pseudocode: 

DECLARE CLASS Node
  DECLARE STRING name
  DECLARE Node next
END DECLARE
DECLARE Node top = NULL


The pseudocode above declares a Node self-referential class with a name nonlink field and a next link field. The pseudocode also declares a top reference variable (of type Node) that holds a reference to the first Node in a singly linked list. Because the list does not yet exist, top's initial value is NULL. Each of the following four cases assumes the Node and top declarations:

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