Head and Tail Nodes - codepath/compsci_guides GitHub Wiki

Unit 5 Session 1 (Click for link to problem statements)

U-nderstand

Understand what the interviewer is asking for by using test cases and questions about the problem.

  • How do linked lists maintain references between nodes?
    • Each node in a linked list contains a reference to the next node, allowing for a chain of nodes that are not necessarily stored in adjacent memory locations.

P-lan

Plan the solution with appropriate visualizations and pseudocode.

General Idea: Create two nodes and set the next attribute of the first node (head) to reference the second node (tail).

1) Create a node with value 100 and store it in a variable named `head`.
2) Create a second node with value 200 and store it in a variable named `tail`.
3) Set the `next` attribute of the `head` node to point to the `tail` node, establishing the link between them.

⚠️ Common Mistakes

  • Not properly setting the next attribute, which would result in the nodes not being linked.

I-mplement

head = Node(100)
tail = Node(200)
head.next = tail