Discussion Forum Unit 1 Hello class. I hope you are doing well. As we begin the discussion this week, here are my answer to the questions, and I hope you find them helpful. Thanks! As this week's topic focused on Data Structures and Algorithms, it's essential to grasp the understanding and underlying building block of data structure and algorithms and how they work and/or enable computer programs to function, especially when it comes to programs and applications development. With these, one must first understand the various components that make them possible. For instance, primitive data structures or types such as floats, strings, boolean, integers, characters, and doubles are considered the basic building block of simple and compound data structures where doubles, floats, and integers represent numerical values with or without decimal points. On the other hand, an algorithm is the collection of unique steps taken to solve a specific set of problems in a computer program. Having the knowledge and understanding of Algorithms and data structures gives programmers/developers the ability to create excellent yet efficient optimized computer programs that are useful and accessible to the public. That being said, I will address the following terms for today's discussion: · Type · Data Item · Data Type . Abstract Data Type · Data Structure · Class . Member Function · Data Members Type: First and foremost, as discussed in the lesson, type is a collection of values (Shaffer, 2011, p.8) that are used to represent different ways in which specific data are collected, such as lists, queues, stacks, bags, hash tables, dictionaries, etc ... Boolean types bear the values true and false. An integer is also another form of type and is used as decimals and non-decimal numerical values in computer programming. Data Item: A data item is considered a given piece of information or record whose value is drawn from a type. It describes the atomic state of a specific object(s) about a specific property at a given time and is retrieved from a type in programming. In other words, a data item is a member of a type. (Shaffer, 2011, p.8) An example of this would be retrieving an integer in the
implementation of an algorithm; the integer within the equation is the data item. Another example would be storing a unit of data in an account number field of two separate records where G002498 and G3500076 are the date items. Data Type: Similar to type, a data type is often used with a given computing operation to manipulate the type. In programming, data types specify the type(s) of value that a variable contains/consists of and what mathematical, relational, or logical operations can be applied to a program without creating complications. Examples of data types included but are not limited to list, array, tuples, integers, characters, floating-point, boolean, doubles, strings union, and structures. A great implementation of data types and how it works would be an account opening or forms survey where in the form field, specific data types