In computer science, a binary search tree (BST), which may sometimes also be called an ordered or sorted binary tree, is a node-based binary tree data structure which has the following properties:
- The left subtree of a node contains only nodes with keys less than the node's key.
- The right subtree of a node contains only nodes with keys greater than the node's key.
- Both the left and right subtrees must also be binary search trees.
- There must be no duplicate nodes.
Generally, the information represented by each node is a record rather than a single data element. However, for sequencing purposes, nodes are compared according to their keys rather than any part of their associated records.
The major advantage of binary search trees over other data structures is that the related sorting algorithms and search algorithms such as in-order traversal can be very efficient.
Binary search trees are a fundamental data structure used to construct more abstract data structures such as sets, multisets, and associative arrays.
Read more about Binary Search Tree: Operations, Types
Famous quotes containing the words search and/or tree:
“The danger lies in forgetting what we had. The flow between generations becomes a trickle, grandchildren tape-recording grandparents’ memories on special occasions perhaps—no casual storytelling jogged by daily life, there being no shared daily life what with migrations, exiles, diasporas, rendings, the search for work. Or there is a shared daily life riddled with holes of silence.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“I said I had the tree. It wasn’t true.
The opposite was true. The tree had me.
The minute it was left with me alone,
It caught me up as if I were the fish
And it the fishpole.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)