List
Internal
Overview
A list is an implementation of a dynamic set.
Linked Lists
A linked list is a data structure implementing a dynamic set in which the elements are arranged in a linear order. The order is determined by pointers maintained by elements to other elements in the list. All dictionary operations (INSERT, DELETE, SEARCH) can be implemented for a list.
A simply linked list has elements that maintain a next pointer to the next element in the list. The last element's next pointer contains NULL. A doubly linked list has elements that maintain a next pointer to successor in the list and a prev pointer to the predecessor in the list.
The first element of a list is called head and the last element is called tail. For a doubly linked list, the head.prev is NULL, and for all linked lists, tail.next is NULL.
A list is said to be sorted if the linear order of the list corresponds to the linear order of keys stored in the elements of the list. A circular list is a list whose head's prev pointer points to the tail, and the tail's next pointer points to the head.