Dr.

Frank Schindler is a Professor of Applied Informatics at

the Faculty of Informatics of the Pan-European University in
Bratislava. His education includes M.Sc. (1978), Dr. Nat. Sci.
(1980) in Mathematics from Charles University, Prague, Ph.D.
(1983) in Mathematics from the University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, Utah and Dr. Habil. (1994) in Informatics from Slovak Tech-
nical University, Bratislava. Besides that he has taught at the
University of Maryland University College, University of Miami, University of Utah,
Slovak Technical University and worked as software engineer for IBM Kingston,
New York, Prime Computer Inc., Framingham, Massachusetts and Diagonal Sys-
FRANK SCHINDLER
tems AG, Zürich, Switzerland. Among his research interests are: computer grap-
hics, geometrical modelling, object-oriented programming and computer secu-
rity.

DATA STRUCTURES
AND ALGORITHMS

DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHMS

ISBN 978-80-7478-568-9

9 788074 785689
 Názov projektu:

MEDZINÁRODNOU SPOLUPRÁCOU KU KVALITE VZDELÁVANIA

PEVŠ

Kód ITMS: NFP26140230012

dopytovo - orientovaný projekt

Moderné vzdelávanie pre vedomostnú spoločnosť

Projekt je spolufinancovaný zo zdrojov EÚ
 FRANK SCHINDLER

Data structures
and algorithms

2014
Example of citation:
SCHINDLER, Frank. Data structures and algorithms. 1st ed. Prague: Wolters Kluwer,
2014. ISBN 978-80-7478-568-9.

This publication has been published with the financial support of European Union
within Operational Programme Education as a result of the project under the name
“Quality Education at the Pan-European University with International Cooperation”.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Union cannot be
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Author Prof. RNDr. Frank Schindler, Ph.D.

Language Corrections SKRIVANEK SLOVENSKO, s.r.o.

Reviewers Juraj Štefanovič, Ph.D.

Assoc. Prof. Jaroslav Fogel, Ph.D.

First edition

© Copyright Pan-European University Slovakia, 2014

© Copyright Frank Schindler, 2014

ISBN 978-80-7478-568-9
CONTENtS

1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................... 7

2 TRENDS IN CONTROL STRUCTURES...................................................... 9

2.1 Abstraction in Control Structures.............................................................. 9
2.2 Parameter Passing...................................................................................... 10
2.2.1 One-Way Flow into the Function.................................................... 11
2.2.2 One-Way Flow out of the Function................................................. 11
2.2.3 Two-Way Flow into and out of the Function................................... 11

3 ABSTRACT DATA TYPES.............................................................................. 15

3.1 Data Abstraction via Classes...................................................................... 15
3.2 Classes in C++........................................................................................... 15
3.3 Class Specification and Implementation.................................................... 16
3.4 Modules and Information Hiding ............................................................. 18

4 SPECIFICATION OF DATA STRUCTURES................................................ 24

4.1 Data Types and Data Structures................................................................. 24
4.2 Hierarchy of Data Structures..................................................................... 24
4.3 Lists........................................................................................................... 24
4.4 Stacks........................................................................................................ 25
4.5 Queues...................................................................................................... 26
4.6 Binary Trees............................................................................................... 28
4.7 General Trees............................................................................................. 29
4.8 Graphs....................................................................................................... 30

5 DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF DATA STRUCTURES................. 32

5.1 Vector Implementation of a Stack.............................................................. 32
5.2 Stack as a Dynamic List............................................................................. 33
5.3 Circular Queue Representation via Vectors................................................ 35
5.4 Queue Representation via Linked Lists...................................................... 37
5.5 Binary Tree Representation via Linked Lists............................................... 39
5.5.1 Binary Tree Traversals...................................................................... 41
5.6 Binary Tree Representation via Vectors....................................................... 42
5.7 General Tree Representation via Linked Lists............................................. 43
5.8 Graph Representation via Linked Lists....................................................... 45
5.9 A Short Overview of Other Data Structures.............................................. 46
 5.9.1 Arrays.............................................................................................. 46
5.9.2 Records........................................................................................... 47
5.9.3 Sets.................................................................................................. 47
5.9.4 Summary of Data Structures............................................................ 48

6 SEARCHING AND SORTING BIG DATA.................................................... 49

6.1 Program Speed and Efficiency.................................................................... 49
6.2 Big-O Notation......................................................................................... 50
6.3 Linear Lookup........................................................................................... 54
6.4 Binary Search............................................................................................. 54
6.5 Hash Table Lookup................................................................................... 57
6.6 N2 Sorting................................................................................................. 59
6.6.1 Straight Selection Sort..................................................................... 59
6.6.2 Bubble Sort .................................................................................... 60
6.6.3 Quick Sort ..................................................................................... 61
6.7 Heap Sort ................................................................................................. 64

7 SECURITY IN PROGRAMMING................................................................. 67
7.1 Introduction.............................................................................................. 68
7.2 Information Hiding................................................................................... 69
7.3 Defensive Programming............................................................................. 69
7.4 Assuming the Impossible........................................................................... 70
7.5 Programming Examples............................................................................. 71
7.5.1 Buffer Overflows............................................................................. 71
7.5.2 Missing Initialization of Variables.................................................... 72
7.5.3 Cryptic Code................................................................................... 72
7.5.4 Program Ignoring Error Messages.................................................... 72
7.5.5 Missing Null-Condition Restrictions............................................... 73
7.5.6 Dangling Pointers............................................................................ 73
7.5.7 Assertions........................................................................................ 74
7.5.8 Work with Library Functions.......................................................... 74
7.5.9 Paradoxes – Testing the Impossible (Variant of “Y2K Bug”)............. 75
7.6 Concluding Remarks................................................................................. 75

BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................. 77
1 INTRODUCTION
Life today: it’s much more complicated that it was a thousand years ago. It is
a well-known fact that beyond some limit the human mind is unable to cope
with too much complexity. Therefore there is an urgent need to use some sort of
a simple tool, let us call it an abstraction, to separate the essentials of an object or
an idea from its details which overwhelm us in the given moment of time. With
the concept of abstraction we focus on the “what”, not the “how”.
A simple example of this could be the postal delivery system. For an unbiased
viewer, it simply delivers letters and packages from senders to recipients. We
should not care so much about details on how this is done. Another interesting
example comes from programming itself.
We often use identifiers to denote variables, constants, functions and any other
complicated data type or object. It is just another form of a very useful abstrac-
tion. A well-chosen variable name can hide the details how the data values are
stored in memory of the computer and instead it stresses what is being stored
there.
Top-down design may also be looked at as an abstraction. At the top-most level
the problem solution may be imagined as the most abstract. Each next level con-
tains more and more details, in such a way that it should stay not too complex
at any specific level.
The functional abstraction is separating the function‘s behaviour from its imple-
mentation. By invoking a built-in function in the expression
sqrt (7*a + b)

the programmer should only know the function’s specification in the form of
a textual description of what the function sqrt does. Usage of such a function
8 CHAPTER 1

does not require any knowledge of its implementation details. One functional
abstraction can be layered at the top of another functional abstraction. A func-
tion FuncA can invoke FuncB that in turn may call further functions. This is
a quite typical case for the top-down design of larger software programs.
The abstraction approach should be applied to data as well. Data abstraction sep-
arates properties of a data type from details of its implementation. The data type
implementation involves a concrete data representation for the abstract values,
along with implementation of all its allowable operations in terms of program-
ming instructions in a chosen programming language. Data representation is
often done in multiple layers of abstraction. Each of them is more abstract than
the layer below it. More importantly the user of such a data abstraction only
needs to know its defining properties, not its implementation details. This con-
siderably reduces data complexity and the user is shielded from possible future
changes in the data implementation.
Recognition of the importance of data abstraction becomes fundamental in
modern software design. In our book, we will explore the use of abstraction
during program design, coding, testing and any modification process. The use
of abstraction techniques in this textbook does not prove all of its benefits right
away. However it may drastically simplify the big jump from writing small com-
puter programs into huge software projects. Without these abstraction tools we
would not be able to master such complex software programs that we are now
using in our everyday life. The book is concluded by a final chapter that relates
to safe programming techniques, that includes pinpointing typical programming
errors that C++ programmers make when they write programs and large software
projects.
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 FRANK SCHINDLER

DATA STRUCTURES
AND ALGORITHMS

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