Computer Science 1001
Lecture 32
Lecture Outline
• Linked lists
– CS1001 Lecture 32 –
Data structures
• A data structure is a way to store a collection of
data.
• Python provides several built-in collection classes.
For example, lists. There are also sets, tuples, and
dictionaries.
• A list is a collection of elements that can be accessed
via an integer index. We can also loop over elements
of a list with a for loop.
• We will now consider creating a data structure,
called a linked list, to store a collection of objects.
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 1
Linked List
• A linked list is a data structure consisting of a
collection of objects arranged one after another,
akin to links of a chain.
2 5 12 15
TOP
• Elements of the list need not be stored contiguously
in memory.
• Each element of a linked list is referred to as a node.
• A node contains space to hold the data, as well as
a link.
• The link is a reference that points to (or refers to)
the next element in the list.
• Note that we must have a way to refer to the start
of the list, as well as a way to indicate the end of
the list.
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 2
Example: Linked List
• To create a linked list we must first define what a
node of the list looks like. We can define a node in
Python (including accessor and mutator methods)
as follows:
class Node:
def __init__(self,initdata):
self._data = initdata
self._next = None
def getData(self):
return self._data
def getNext(self):
return self._next
def setData(self,newdata):
self._data = newdata
def setNext(self,newnext):
self._next = newnext
• A Node can be created by providing an initial data
value:
n1 = Node(42)
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 3
Example: Linked List
• Note that None is used to initialize the link element
of the Node, which indicates that there is no
subsequent node in the list.
• If we create multiple nodes, as in:
n1 = Node(42)
n2 = Node(35)
n3 = Node(98)
we have create 3 separate Node objects that are not
linked together into a list of objects.
• We could link the Nodes together by setting the
next field of a Node. For example,
n1.setNext(n2)
n2.setNext(n3)
• To make list management easier we will define a
LinkedList class.
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 4
Example: Linked List
• A linked list must maintain a reference to the start
of the list. It is also convenient to store the size of
the list as an instance variable.
class LinkedList:
def __init__(self):
self._top = None
self._size = 0
def getSize(self):
return self._size
def isEmpty(self):
return self._top == None
• We want to be able to add nodes to the linked list,
for which we provide an add method:
def add(self,value):
# Add node to beginning of list
temp = Node(value)
temp.setNext(self._top)
self._top = temp
self._size += 1
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 5
Example: Linked List
• We can now create a LinkedList and add Nodes.
For example:
llst = LinkedList()
llst.add(42)
llst.add(35)
llst.add(98)
llst.add(77)
• To display the current status of the linked list, we
will provide a printList method:
def printList(self):
print("List: ",end="")
current = self._top
while current != None:
print(current.getData(),end=" ")
current = current.getNext()
print()
With the linked list created above, we have:
List: 77 98 35 42
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 6
Example: Linked List
• Now, suppose we want to search a linked list for a
node with a particular value.
• This requires us to traverse the list, starting at the
top node:
def search(self,value):
current = self._top
while current != None:
if current.getData() == value:
return True
else: # move to next node in list
current = current.getNext()
return False
• Here we are using current to refer to each Node
as we move through the list.
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 7
Example: Linked List
• We may also want to remove nodes from the list,
for which we provide a remove method:
def remove(self,value):
# Remove node with self._data = value
current = self._top
previous = None # node prior to node to be removed
found = False
while current != None and not found:
if current.getData() == value:
found = True
else: # move to next node in list
previous = current
current = current.getNext()
if not found:
return
# Remove the node located above (current)
if previous == None: # top element to be removed
self._top = current.getNext()
else: # change reference to next node in previous
previous.setNext(current.getNext())
self._size -= 1
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 8
Example: Linked List
• A main function to test our current functionality:
def main():
llst = LinkedList()
llst.add(42)
llst.add(35)
llst.add(98)
llst.add(77)
llst.printList()
print("Size:",llst.getSize())
print("Value 25 present?: ",llst.search(25))
print("Value 98 present?: ",llst.search(98))
print("Removing 45...")
llst.remove(45)
llst.printList()
print("Removing 77...")
llst.remove(77)
llst.printList()
print("Value 77 present?: ",llst.search(77))
Output:
List: 77 98 35 42
Size: 4
Value 25 present?: False
Value 98 present?: True
Removing 45...
List: 77 98 35 42
Removing 77...
List: 98 35 42
Value 77 present?: False
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 9
Example: Linked List
class Node:
def __init__(self,initdata):
self._data = initdata
self._next = None
def getData(self):
return self._data
def getNext(self):
return self._next
def setData(self,newdata):
self._data = newdata
def setNext(self,newnext):
self._next = newnext
class LinkedList:
def __init__(self):
self._top = None
self._size = 0
def getSize(self):
return self._size
def isEmpty(self):
return self._top == None
def add(self,value):
# Add node to beginning of list
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 10
temp = Node(value)
temp.setNext(self._top)
self._top = temp
self._size += 1
def remove(self,value):
# Remove node with self._data = value
current = self._top
previous = None # node prior to node to be removed
found = False
while current != None and not found:
if current.getData() == value:
found = True
else: # move to next node in list
previous = current
current = current.getNext()
if not found:
return
# Remove the node located above (current)
if previous == None: # top element to be removed
self._top = current.getNext()
else: # change reference to next node in previous
previous.setNext(current.getNext())
self._size -= 1
def search(self,value):
current = self._top
while current != None:
if current.getData() == value:
return True
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 11
else: # move to next node in list
current = current.getNext()
return False
def printList(self):
print("List: ",end="")
current = self._top
while current != None:
print(current.getData(),end=" ")
current = current.getNext()
print()
– CS1001 Lecture 32 – 12
