为什么有人想要使用链表而不是数组?
毫无疑问，编码一个链表比使用数组要多一些工作，人们可能会想知道如何才能证明这些额外的工作是合理的。
我认为在链表中插入新元素是微不足道的，但在数组中这是一个主要的任务。与将数据存储在数组中相比，使用链表存储一组数据还有其他优点吗?
这个问题不是这个问题的重复，因为另一个问题是专门问一个特定的Java类，而这个问题是关于一般数据结构的。
当前回答
It's easier to store data of different sizes in a linked list. An array assumes every element is exactly the same size. As you mentioned, it's easier for a linked list to grow organically. An array's size needs to be known ahead of time, or re-created when it needs to grow. Shuffling a linked list is just a matter of changing what points to what. Shuffling an array is more complicated and/or takes more memory. As long as your iterations all happen in a "foreach" context, you don't lose any performance in iteration.
其他回答
It's easier to store data of different sizes in a linked list. An array assumes every element is exactly the same size. As you mentioned, it's easier for a linked list to grow organically. An array's size needs to be known ahead of time, or re-created when it needs to grow. Shuffling a linked list is just a matter of changing what points to what. Shuffling an array is more complicated and/or takes more memory. As long as your iterations all happen in a "foreach" context, you don't lose any performance in iteration.
当集合不断增加和减少时，链表尤其有用。例如，很难想象尝试使用数组实现一个Queue(添加到末尾，从前面删除)—您将花费所有时间向下移动内容。另一方面，对于链表来说，这是微不足道的。
根据你的语言，可以考虑以下一些缺点和优点:
C编程语言:当使用链表(通常是通过结构指针)时，必须特别注意不要泄漏内存。正如前面提到的，链表很容易洗牌，因为我们所做的只是改变指针，但是我们会记得释放所有的东西吗?
Java: Java具有自动垃圾收集功能，因此内存泄漏不会成为问题，但是对于高级程序员来说，隐藏了链表的实现细节。从列表中间删除节点等方法的过程比该语言的一些用户所期望的要复杂得多。
除了插入和删除方便之外，链表的内存表示方式也不同于数组。对于链表中的元素数量没有限制，而在数组中，您必须指定元素的总数。 看看这篇文章。
A widely unappreciated argument for ArrayList and against LinkedList is that LinkedLists are uncomfortable while debugging. The time spent by maintenance developers to understand the program, e.g. to find bugs, increases and IMHO does sometimes not justify the nanoseconds in performance improvements or bytes in memory consumption in enterprise applicatons. Sometimes (well, of course it depends on the type of applications), it's better to waste a few bytes but have an application which is more maintainable or easier to understand.
例如，在Java环境中，使用Eclipse调试器，调试ArrayList将显示一个非常容易理解的结构:
arrayList ArrayList<String>
elementData Object[]
[0] Object "Foo"
[1] Object "Foo"
[2] Object "Foo"
[3] Object "Foo"
[4] Object "Foo"
...
另一方面，查看LinkedList的内容并找到特定的对象变成了一个展开树的噩梦，更不用说过滤LinkedList内部信息所需的认知开销:
linkedList LinkedList<String>
header LinkedList$Entry<E>
element E
next LinkedList$Entry<E>
element E "Foo"
next LinkedList$Entry<E>
element E "Foo"
next LinkedList$Entry<E>
element E "Foo"
next LinkedList$Entry<E>
previous LinkedList$Entry<E>
...
previous LinkedList$Entry<E>
previous LinkedList$Entry<E>
previous LinkedList$Entry<E>
