Which of the following operations is NOT efficient for linked lists?
Practice Questions
Q1
Which of the following operations is NOT efficient for linked lists?
Insertion at head
Insertion at tail
Accessing an element by index
Deletion from head
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
Which of the following operations is NOT efficient for linked lists?
Step 1: Understand what a linked list is. A linked list is a data structure where each element (node) points to the next one.
Step 2: Know that linked lists allow for efficient insertion and deletion of elements, but accessing elements by their index is different.
Step 3: Realize that to access an element by its index (like the 3rd element), you have to start from the first element and go through each one until you reach the desired index.
Step 4: Count how many elements you have to go through. If there are 'n' elements, you may have to go through up to 'n' elements to find the one you want.
Step 5: Understand that this means accessing an element by index takes O(n) time, which is not efficient compared to other data structures like arrays where you can access any element in O(1) time.
