# Explain the Difference Between Linear and Non-linear Data Structure

Data StructureAnalysis of AlgorithmsAlgorithms

In this post, we will understand the difference between linear data structure and non-linear data structure.

## Linear Data Structure

• The elements of such a structure are arranged sequentially.

• Every element can be accessed by traversing through the linear structure.

• All the elements of a linear structure are at a single level, i.e there is no hierarchy.

• They are easy to implement and use.

• They utilize more memory, hence they are not very memory-friendly.

• The time complexity of linear data structure usually increases when the size of the structure increases.

• Examples include- list, array, stack

The below shows an example of a list in Python.

my_list = [45, 42, 12, 34, 56, 7]
print(my_list)

## Output

[45, 42, 12, 34, 56, 7]

## Non-linear Data Structure

• The elements are stored in a hierarchical fashion.

• They are connected to each other using ‘nodes’.

• The elements of this structure are present at different levels, not a single level.

• Their implementation is not easy.

• They can’t be traversed easily- it requires multiple iterations to completely walk through a non-linear data structure.

• They are memory-friendly, i.e they use memory efficiently.

• The time complexity of a non-linear data structure remains same even when the size of the data increases.

• Examples include- Map, tree, graph

The below example shows how a graph is defined- it indicates that node interconnection also has to be defined.

## Example

graph = {'A': ['B', 'C'],
'B': ['C'],
'C': ['D', 'E'],
'D': ['C'],
'E': ['F', 'G'],
'F': ['C']}
Published on 23-Mar-2021 06:51:22