Picture yourself playing an awesome Snake game. You control the snake, eating dots to make it grow. Ever wondered how the game keeps track of the snake’s body? That’s where linked lists come into play, acting like secret agents to keep everything organized!
Think of the snake’s body as a train, with each train car representing a node in a linked list. A node consists of two parts:
- Cargo: This holds information like the snake’s position on the screen (like an address).
- Hook: This connects the current car (node) to the one behind it, forming a chain. The head (front) of the snake knows the second car, the second car knows the third, and so forth down to the tail.
Arrays are like old, rigid trains that can’t change size. Linked lists, however, are like super-flexible trains! Here’s why they’re perfect for our snake:
- Growing Power: As the snake eats, it adds more cars (nodes) to its train. Adding a new car at the front (head) with a linked list is easy, like attaching a new car to the engine!
- Shrinking Time: When the snake moves, it needs to drop the last…