Introduction to Linked List Data Structure and Algorithm Tutorials (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 23 Mar, 2026

Linked List is basically chains of nodes where each node contains information such as data and a pointer to the next node in the chain.

Allows efficient insertion and deletion operations compared to arrays.
Individual items are not necessarily at contiguous locations. The individual items are called nodes and connected with each other using links.
A node contains two things first is data and second is a link that connects it with another node.

Linked-list

Basic Terminologies of Linked List

**Head: The Head of a linked list is a pointer to the first node or reference of the first node of linked list. This pointer marks the beginning of the linked list.
**Node: Linked List consists of a series of nodes where each node has two parts: **data and **next pointer.
**Data: Data is the part of node which stores the information in the linked list.
**Next pointer: Next pointer is the part of the node which points to the next node of the linked list.

Here are a few advantages of a linked list that is listed below, it will help you understand why it is necessary to know.

**Dynamic Data structure: The size of memory can be allocated or de-allocated at run time based on the operation insertion or deletion.
**Ease of Insertion/Deletion: The insertion and deletion of elements are simpler than arrays since no elements need to be shifted after insertion and deletion, Just the address needed to be updated.
**Efficient Memory Utilization: As we know Linked List is a dynamic data structure the size increases or decreases as per the requirement so this avoids the wastage of memory.
**Implementation: Various advanced data structures can be implemented using a linked list like a stack, queue, graph, hash maps, etc.