Hi! i am quite intrigued by the skip list optimization tested in your linked list mcqs!
i have been though the provided pdf and have gone through the net and forums for a decipherable implementation of the same.
Can you please link me or show me an implementation of skip list (search/insertion) which follows the same standards and concepts as taught in your course?
if not do you have a resources page which can explain a more complicated implementation, if any?
Thanks for your guidance!
@ilovetocode
logic behind the search is kind of same in both,
The worst case search time for a sorted linked list is O(n) as we can only linearly traverse the list and cannot skip nodes while searching. For a Balanced Binary Search Tree, we skip almost half of the nodes after one comparison with root. For a sorted array, we have random access and we can apply Binary Search on arrays.
Can we augment sorted linked lists to make the search faster? The answer is Skip List. The idea is simple, we create multiple layers so that we can skip some nodes. See the following example list with 16 nodes and two layers. The upper layer works as an “express lane” which connects only main outer stations, and the lower layer works as a “normal lane” which connects every station. Suppose we want to search for 50, we start from first node of “express lane” and keep moving on “express lane” till we find a node whose next is greater than 50. Once we find such a node (30 is the node in following example) on “express lane”, we move to “normal lane” using pointer from this node, and linearly search for 50 on “normal lane”. In following example, we start from 30 on “normal lane” and with linear search, we find 50.
Hi Abha,
Thank you for your thorough explanation. I understand the logic behind skip lists and like i mentioned in my query, i am requesting you for an Implementaion of the logic. The implementations i have seen online are quite complex and involve functions for search, insertion and deletion etc.
If we were to implement a simple standalone skip list, how would we do it?
I have trouble understanding the structure of the node and how new nodes are added.
Please see if you can clear up an explanatory implemenation of a simple skip list.
Thanks Again!
Hey@ilovetocode
go through this for implementation .it’s from the same source
Hope this helps
Hey Abha,
If i may clarify, when i say implementation, i mean code.
