DSA interview questions and answers
1. What is the difference between file structure and storage structure?
Answer - The difference lies in the memory area accessed. Storage structure refers to the
data structure in the memory of the computer system,
Whereas file structure represents the storage structure in the auxiliary memory.
2. Are linked lists considered linear or non-linear Data Structures?
Answer - Linked lists are considered both linear and non-linear data structures depending
upon the application they are used for. When used for
Access strategies, it is considered as a linear data-structure. When used for data storage, it
is considered a non-linear data structure.
3. How do you reference all of the elements in a one-dimension array?
Answer - All of the elements in a one-dimension array can be referenced using an indexed
loop as the array subscript so that the counter runs
From 0 to the array size minus one.
4. What are dynamic Data Structures? Name a few.
Answer - They are collections of data in memory that expand and contract to grow or shrink
in size as a program runs. This enables the programmer
To control exactly how much memory is to be utilized. Examples are the dynamic array,
linked list, stack, queue, and heap.
5. What is a Dequeue?
Answer- It is a double-ended queue, or a data structure, where the elements can be
inserted or deleted at both ends (FRONT and REAR).
6. What operations can be performed on queues?
Answer - Enqueue() adds an element to the end of the queue
Dequeue() removes an element from the front of the queue
Init() is used for initializing the queue is Empty tests for whether or not the queue is empty
The front is used to get the value of the first data item but does not remove it
The rear is used to get the last item from a queue.
7. What is the merge sort? How does it work?
Answer - Merge sort is a divide-and-conquer algorithm for sorting the data. It works by
merging and sorting adjacent data to create bigger sorted
Lists, which are then merged recursively to form even bigger sorted lists until you have one
single sorted list.
8.How does the Selection sort work?
Answer - Selection sort works by repeatedly picking the smallest number in ascending
order from the list and placing it at the beginning. This process is repeated moving toward
the end of the list or sorted subarray.
Scan all items and find the smallest. Switch over the position as the first item. Repeat the
selection sort on the remaining N-1 items. We always iterate forward (I from 0 to N-1) and
swap with the smallest element (always i).
Time complexity: best case O(n2); worst O(n2)
Space complexity: worst O(1)
8. What are the applications of graph Data Structure?
Answer- Transport grids where stations are represented as vertices and routes as the
edges of the graph
Utility graphs of power or water, where vertices are connection points and edge the wires or
pipes connecting them
Social network graphs to determine the flow of information and hotspots (edges and
vertices)
Neural networks where vertices represent neurons and edge the synapses between them
9. What is an AVL tree?
Answer - An AVL (Adelson, Velskii, and Landi) tree is a height balancing binary search tree
in which the difference of heights of the left
And right subtrees of any node is less than or equal to one. This controls the height of the
binary search tree by not letting
It get skewed. This is used when working with a large data set, with continual pruning
through insertion and deletion of data.
10. Differentiate NULL and VOID ?
Answer - Null is a value, whereas Void is a data type identifier
Null indicates an empty value for a variable, whereas void indicates pointers that have no
initial size
Null means it never existed; Void means it existed but is not in effect .
