| Creating a linked list |
A linked list can be developed produced in a array. Consider the array below -
| Data | Pointer | |
| 0 | Bob | 1 |
| 1 | Fred | 2 |
| 2 | Sue | x |
| 3 | 4 | |
| 4 | 5 | |
| 5 | 6 | |
| 6 | 7 | |
| 7 | 8 | |
| 8 | 9 | |
| 9 | x |
- StartOfList = 0
- FreeSpace = 3
The pointer will show the next value in the list. The StartOfList pointer will point to the start of the list while FreeSpace points to the next "free" block. A "x" pointer represents the end of the list. This will be the situation when a list starts off. But over time as values are added and removed you could get a table which looks like this.
| 0 | 2 | |
| 1 | Fred | 5 |
| 2 | 4 | |
| 3 | 6 | |
| 4 | 3 | |
| 5 | Bert | 8 |
| 6 | 9 | |
| 7 | x | |
| 8 | Charlotte | x |
| 9 | 7 |
- StartOfList = 1
- FreeSpace = 0
The linked list of data is -
1 -> 5 -> 8
The free space list is -
0 -> 2 -> 4 -> 3 -> 6 -> 9 -> 7
