Quoting Liam Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > While we're on challenge 4, I assume a linked list is important. Can > anyone point me at a good introduction to linked lists?
A linked list, at a high level, is a data structure made of "nodes", where each node contains some data and a pointer to the next node. Here is a really simple python example: >>> class Node: ... pass ... >>> root = Node() >>> root.value = "Start" >>> n = root >>> for i in range(10): ... n.next = Node() ... n.next.value = str(i) ... n = n.next ... else: ... n.next = None ... >>> # We now have a linked list starting at root. ... >>> n = root >>> while n != None: ... print n.value ... n = n.next ... Start 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >>> Of course, the pointer to the next node could be anything; as long as your program logic knows how to use it to get to the next node. One of the advantages linked lists have over arrays in languages like C++ is that they can be as big as you like, whereas arrays are created with a fixed side. But python lists don't have that problem, so they're a lot less useful here... -- John. _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
