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
对我来说是这样的，
Access Linked Lists allow only sequential access to elements. Thus the algorithmic complexities is order of O(n) Arrays allow random access to its elements and thus the complexity is order of O(1) Storage Linked lists require an extra storage for references. This makes them impractical for lists of small data items such as characters or boolean values. Arrays do not need an extra storage to point to next data item. Each element can be accessed via indexes. Size The size of Linked lists are dynamic by nature. The size of array is restricted to declaration. Insertion/Deletion Elements can be inserted and deleted in linked lists indefinitely. Insertion/Deletion of values in arrays are very expensive. It requires memory reallocation.
其他回答
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>
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。
对我来说是这样的，
Access Linked Lists allow only sequential access to elements. Thus the algorithmic complexities is order of O(n) Arrays allow random access to its elements and thus the complexity is order of O(1) Storage Linked lists require an extra storage for references. This makes them impractical for lists of small data items such as characters or boolean values. Arrays do not need an extra storage to point to next data item. Each element can be accessed via indexes. Size The size of Linked lists are dynamic by nature. The size of array is restricted to declaration. Insertion/Deletion Elements can be inserted and deleted in linked lists indefinitely. Insertion/Deletion of values in arrays are very expensive. It requires memory reallocation.
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。
