Arrays Linked Lists Questions Medium
The difference between a stack and a queue in terms of implementation complexity lies in the way elements are added and removed from each data structure.
A stack follows the Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) principle, where the last element added is the first one to be removed. It can be implemented using an array or a linked list. In terms of implementation complexity, both array-based and linked list-based stacks have similar complexities. Adding or removing an element from the top of the stack takes constant time O(1) as it only involves updating the top pointer or index.
On the other hand, a queue follows the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) principle, where the first element added is the first one to be removed. Similar to a stack, a queue can also be implemented using an array or a linked list. However, the implementation complexity differs between the two. In an array-based queue, adding an element at the rear and removing an element from the front requires shifting all other elements, resulting in a time complexity of O(n), where n is the number of elements in the queue. In contrast, a linked list-based queue has a constant time complexity of O(1) for both enqueue (adding an element at the rear) and dequeue (removing an element from the front) operations, as it only involves updating the rear and front pointers.
In summary, the implementation complexity of a stack is generally simpler than that of a queue, as both array-based and linked list-based stacks have constant time complexities for adding and removing elements. However, an array-based queue has a higher implementation complexity compared to a linked list-based queue due to the need for shifting elements.