NIST

recursive data structure

(definition)

Definition: A data structure that is partially composed of smaller or simpler instances of the same data structure. For instance, a tree is composed of smaller trees (subtrees) and leaf nodes, and a list may have other lists as elements.

See also iteration, recursion, recursive.

Authors: PR,PEB


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Entry modified 17 December 2004.
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Cite this as:
Patrick Rodgers and Paul E. Black, "recursive data structure", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed. 17 December 2004. (accessed TODAY) Available from: https://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/recursivstrc.html