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linked list

Data structure which is a linear collection of data elements, called nodes, each pointing to the next node by means of a pointer

Entitylinked data structureQ7003418

Instance of: linked data structure
Subclass of: list
Founded: 1955

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

In computer science, a linked list is a linear collection of data elements whose order is not given by their physical placement in memory. Instead, each element points to the next. It is a data structure consisting of a collection of nodes which together represent a sequence. In its most basic form, each node contains data, and a reference to the next node in the sequence. This structure allows for efficient insertion or removal of elements from any position in the sequence during iteration. More complex variants add additional links, allowing more efficient insertion or removal of nodes at arbitrary positions. A drawback of linked lists is that data access time is linear with respect to the number of nodes in the list. Because nodes are serially linked, accessing any node requires that the prior node be accessed beforehand. Faster access, such as random access, is not possible. Arrays have better cache locality compared to linked lists.

Overview

All data

23 statements · 9% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Discovered by: Allen Newell
Cliff Shaw
Herbert Simon
Members / parts: node
pointer
Implementation of: list

On other databases

12 identifiers linking linked list across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

externally sourced

Source last edited September 20, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). linked list (Q7003418). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/linked-list-Q7003418