created: 08/26/2002

# CHAPTER 34 — Data Structures

Today, assembly language would not be your first choice for building a data structure. But in the past, data structures were more easily built with assembly language than with the other programming languages of the time. In the first book written about data structures, The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth (1968), the examples were done in assembly language.

Times have changed. Today most programming is done with languages like Java or C. Data structures are easily implemented in these languages. But of course, the programs are compiled, and ultimately they execute as machine code. To find out what is really going on, it helps to look at data structures in assembly language.

#### Chapter Topics:

- Data structures.
- Linear structures.
- Linked lists in assembly language.
- Traversal of a linked list.
- Pointers

### QUESTION 1:

(Review: ) What is a data structure?