链表比数组的维护开销更大，它还需要额外的内存存储，所有这些都是一致的。但是有一些事情是数组做不到的。在很多情况下，假设你想要一个长度为10^9的数组你无法得到它，因为必须有一个连续的内存位置。链表可能是这里的救世主。

假设你想用数据存储多个东西，那么它们可以很容易地扩展到链表中。

STL容器通常在后台有链表实现。

使用链表的唯一原因是插入元素很容易(删除也很容易)。

缺点可能是指针占用大量空间。

关于编码就更难了: 通常你不需要代码链表(或只需要一次)他们包括在内 STL 如果你还是要做的话，它就不那么复杂了。

链表是一个动态的数据结构，因此它可以在运行时通过分配和释放内存来增长和收缩。所以不需要给出链表的初始大小。插入和删除节点非常容易。

2-链表的大小可以在运行时增加或减少，因此没有内存浪费。在数组的情况下，有很多内存浪费，比如如果我们声明一个大小为10的数组，只存储6个元素，那么4个元素的空间就浪费了。链表中不存在这样的问题，因为只有在需要时才分配内存。

3-数据结构，如堆栈和队列可以很容易地实现使用链表。

While many of you have touched upon major adv./dis of linked list vs array, most of the comparisons are how one is better/ worse than the other.Eg. you can do random access in array but not possible in linked list and others. However, this is assuming link lists and array are going to be applied in a similar application. However a correct answer should be how link list would be preferred over array and vice-versa in a particular application deployment. Suppose you want to implement a dictionary application, what would you use ? Array : mmm it would allow easy retrieval through binary search and other search algo .. but lets think how link list can be better..Say you want to search "Blob" in dictionary. Would it make sense to have a link list of A->B->C->D---->Z and then each list element also pointing to an array or another list of all words starting with that letter ..

A -> B -> C -> ...Z
|    |    |
|    |    [Cat, Cave]
|    [Banana, Blob]
[Adam, Apple]

Now is the above approach better or a flat array of [Adam,Apple,Banana,Blob,Cat,Cave] ? Would it even be possible with array ? So a major advantage of link list is you can have an element not just pointing to the next element but also to some other link list/array/ heap/ or any other memory location. Array is a one flat contigous memory sliced into blocks size of the element it is going to store.. Link list on the other hand is a chunks of non-contigous memory units (can be any size and can store anything) and pointing to each other the way you want. Similarly lets say you are making a USB drive. Now would you like files to be saved as any array or as a link list ? I think you get the idea what I am pointing to :)

在数组中，您有权限在O(1)时间内访问任何元素。所以它适用于二进制搜索、快速排序等操作。链表则适合于插入删除，因为它在O(1)时间内。两者都有优点和缺点，选择一种而不是另一种归结为您想要实现什么。

—更大的问题是，我们能有一个两者的混合体吗?类似于python和perl实现的列表。

快速插入和删除确实是链表的最佳参数。如果您的结构是动态增长的，并且不需要对任何元素进行固定时间的访问(例如动态堆栈和队列)，链表是一个很好的选择。