Difference between linked list and array data structure in Java Programming

Array and linked list are two fundamental data structure in programming world. Almost all programs use Array in some form or other, which makes it increasingly important to learn array and linked list. Difference between linked list and array data structure is also a popular data structure question, frequently asked in various programming job interview. This makes it even more important to learn and understand difference between an array and a linked list. Well there are lot of difference between these two starting from how they store data, to how you retrieve data from them. Main difference comes from the fact that array elements are stored in contiguous memory location, which makes it easy to retrieve them in quick time, while linked list elements are scattered through out memory, where one element knows address of other, it makes it hard to retrieve element from linked list in quick time. Some of the differences which we saw in ArrayList vs LinkedList also applicable at data structure level, because ArrayList is backed by array and LinkedList is internally backed by double linked list in Java. In this tutorial, we will learn differences between these two fundamental data structure in more details. Once you know the difference, you can make a concise choice of which data structure suits your need better. Since both of them offers distinctive advantage over others, in terms of speed and flexibility, You can make an informed choice based upon your need.

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