Linked List vs Array When to Choose Which in DSA C - Build Both Approaches

Linked List vs Array: When to Choose Which

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are managing a playlist of songs on a music player. You want to understand when to use an array or a linked list to store your songs for easy adding, removing, and accessing.

🎯 Goal: You will create a simple array and a linked list to hold song names. Then, you will add songs, remove a song, and print the list to see how each data structure behaves.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an array of 5 song names

Create a linked list node structure for songs

Add 3 songs to the linked list

Remove the second song from the linked list

Print the array and linked list contents

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Music players, contact lists, and many apps use arrays or linked lists to store items depending on how often items change or need quick access.

💼 Career

Understanding when to use arrays or linked lists helps in writing efficient programs and choosing the right data structure for tasks like managing playlists, queues, or dynamic data.

1

Create an array of 5 song names

Create a char array called songs_array that can hold 5 song names, each up to 20 characters. Initialize it with these exact songs: "SongA", "SongB", "SongC", "SongD", and "SongE".

DSA C

# Your code here

Hint

Use a 2D char array to store multiple strings. Initialize it with the given song names inside curly braces.

2

Define a linked list node and create the head pointer

Define a struct Node with a char array song[20] and a pointer next to the next node. Then create a Node* pointer called head and set it to NULL.

DSA C

# Your code here

Hint

Define the node structure with a song name and a next pointer. Initialize the head pointer to NULL.

3

Add 3 songs to the linked list

Write a function add_song that takes a char* song name, creates a new node, copies the song name into it, and adds it to the end of the linked list starting at head. Then add these songs in order: "SongX", "SongY", "SongZ".

DSA C

# Your code here

Hint

Create a new node with malloc, copy the song name, and add it at the end of the list. Use a loop to find the last node.

4

Remove the second song from the linked list and print both lists

Write a function remove_second_song that removes the second node from the linked list starting at head. Then write a function print_songs_array to print all songs in songs_array, and a function print_linked_list to print all songs in the linked list. In main, call remove_second_song, then print the array and linked list songs.

DSA C

# Your code here

Hint

To remove the second node, adjust the first node's next pointer and free the removed node. Print the array by looping over indices, and print the linked list by traversing nodes.