
Data Structure

This illustrates a data structure, a means of storing data within a program.

You may see other such structures in the Data Structures category.
A   set  is a collection of elements, without duplicates and without order.



Task

Show each of these set operations:

 Set creation
 Test m ∈ S -- "m is an element in set S"
 A ∪ B -- union; a set of all elements either in set A or in set B.
 A ∩ B -- intersection; a set of all elements in both set A and set B.
 A ∖ B -- difference; a set of all elements in set A, except those in set B.
 A ⊆ B -- subset; true if every element in set A is also in set B.
 A = B -- equality; true if every element of set A is in set B and vice versa.


As an option, show some other set operations.

(If A ⊆ B, but A ≠ B, then A is called a true or proper subset of B, written A ⊂ B or A ⊊ B.)

As another option, show how to modify a mutable set.



One might implement a set using an associative array (with set elements as array keys and some dummy value as the values).

One might also implement a set with a binary search tree, or with a hash table, or with an ordered array of binary bits (operated on with bit-wise binary operators).

The basic test, m ∈ S, is O(n) with a sequential list of elements, O(log n) with a balanced binary search tree, or (O(1) average-case, O(n) worst case) with a hash table.



See also

 Array
 Associative array: Creation, Iteration
 Collections
 Compound data type
 Doubly-linked list: Definition, Element definition, Element insertion, List Traversal, Element Removal
 Linked list
 Queue: Definition, Usage
 Set
 Singly-linked list: Element definition, Element insertion, List Traversal, Element Removal
 Stack


 
> (set set-1 (sets:new))
#(set 0 16 16 8 80 48 ...)
> (set set-2 (sets:add_element 'a set-1))
#(set 1 16 16 8 80 48 ...)
> (set set-3 (sets:from_list '(a b)))
#(set 2 16 16 8 80 48 ...)
> (sets:is_element 'a set-2)
true
> (set union (sets:union set-2 set-3))
#(set 2 16 16 8 80 48 ...)
> (sets:to_list union)
(a b)
> (set intersect (sets:intersection set-2 set-3))
#(set 1 16 16 8 80 48 ...)
> (sets:to_list intersect)
(a)
> (set subtr (sets:subtract set-3 set-2))
#(set 1 16 16 8 80 48 ...)
> (sets:to_list subtr)
(b)
> (sets:is_subset set-2 set-3)
true
> (=:= set-2 set-3)
false
> (set set-4 (sets:add_element 'b set-2))
#(set 2 16 16 8 80 48 ...)
> (=:= set-3 set-4)
true
 