Question

What is the importance of DISCRETE STRUCTURES from a programmer point of view

Answer 1

If you mean data structures such as trees, sets and more, the importance is the fact that:

• They provide patterns for storing data

• They serve as basis for algorithms to act on that data

• As a theoretical structure in Discreet Math, they have provable properties which can be served in using/optimizing/choosing said data structures and algorithms

As examples, knowing structures from discreet math can help you correctly and reliably and quickly answer questions such as:

1. What is the best way to store a list of unique objects where your main purpose is deciding whether the object is in the list.

2. What is the fastest way to search for something in a list

3. How can I store a list of objects where the size of the list is not known and the data in the list must be retrieved in sorted order.

   • What’s the best way to implement such a thing if you insert data very often and retrieve rarely? Vice versa?

4. How do I go from address A to address B on a map in a car (think directed graphs of the streets)

Please review the linked Wikipedia article on Discreet Math – it provides both a great summary as well as a wealth of specific details and examples.

NOTE: This answer is specific to structures from Discreet math (trees/graphs/sets/etc…) – the importance of Discreet Math to programming overall has MUCH broader implications, since Discreet math also includes boolean logic (which is the basis for pretty much all of modern digital computing), probability theory, etc…