Array |
Linked Lists |
| A data structure consisting of a collection of elements each identified by the array index | A linear collection of data elements whose order is not given by their location in memory |
| It supports random access, so the programmer can directly access an element in the array using the index | It supports sequential access, so the programmer has to sequentially go through each element or node until reaching the required element |
| Elements are stored in contiguous memory location | Elements can be stored anywhere in the memory |
| Programmer has to specify the size of the array at the time of declaring the array | There is no need for specifying the size of a linked list |
| Memory allocation happens at compile time | Memory allocation happens at run time |
| It is a static memory allocation | It is a dynamic memory allocation |
| Elements are independent of each other | An element or node points to the next bode or both next node and previous node |
| Size of an array is fixed | Size of an array is not fixed |
| Array elements can be modified easily by identifying the index value | Linked list is a complex process for modify node in a linked list |
| Array elements cannot be added deleted once it is declared | Nodes in the linked list can be added and deleted from the list |