Unit 04 – Computational Structure

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Short Answer Questions

Q.1: What is Computational Structure?

• Refers to the underlying framework or organization of computing systems and programs.
• Involves arrangement of data, algorithms, and how computations are performed.
• Uses various data structures (arrays, lists, trees, graphs, etc.) to organize and represent data.
• Each structure has strengths/weaknesses for different types of data/operations.

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Q.2: What is primitive computational structure?

• Refers to the most basic building blocks of computation.
• Primitive data types: integers, floats, booleans, characters.
• Basic control structures:
  • Sequence (executing statements in order)
  • Selection (if-else, switch-case)
  • Iteration (for, while loops)
• Primitive operations:
  • Arithmetic (+, -, *, /)
  • Comparison (==, <, >)
  • Logical (AND, OR, NOT)

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Q.3: What is List?

• A list is a data structure used to store an ordered collection of items.
• Lists are fundamental in programming and computer science.

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Q.4: How List is created?

• Depends on programming language/context.
• General idea: define a collection of items in a sequence.
• Example in Python: my_list = [10, 20, 30, 40] print(my_list[1]) # Output: 20 my_list.append(50) # Adds 50 to the end

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Q.5: Write a short note on List Properties.

• Lists are widely used due to flexibility and ease of use.
• Key properties:
  1. Ordered – elements stored in sequence.
  2. Indexed Access – elements accessed via index (starting from 0).
  3. Heterogeneous – can contain elements of different types (in dynamic languages).
  4. Mutable – items can be added/modified/removed.
  5. Can hold duplicates – same value may appear multiple times.
  6. Can hold any type of data – integers, strings, other lists, etc.
• Example in Python: my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] empty_list = []

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I see you’ve shared two pages from a computer science book (ICS Part-I, Vintage Computer Science, pages 149–150).
These pages are explaining list operations, applications of lists, stacks, and queues in Python. Let me give you a clear summary:

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Q.6: What is List Operation? Explain with an example.

• A list operation is any action performed on a list to add, remove, modify, or retrieve elements.
• Examples of operations:
  1. Appending Elements my_list = [10, 20, 30] my_list.append(40) print(my_list) # [10, 20, 30, 40]
  2. Removing Elements my_list.remove(20) print(my_list) # [10, 30, 40]
  3. Popping Elements (by index) item = my_list.pop(1) print(item) # 30 print(my_list) # [10, 40]
  4. Searching in a List my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] print(3 in my_list) # True print(my_list.index(3)) # 2

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Q.7: Applications of List

Lists are versatile and useful in many areas:

1. Data Storage and Management – store multiple items like names, scores, tasks.
2. Implementing Other Data Structures – build stacks, queues, linked lists, graphs, trees.
3. Searching and Sorting – used in algorithms like linear search, binary search, bubble sort, merge sort.

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Q.8: Define Stacks

• A stack is a linear data structure that follows LIFO (Last In, First Out).
• Example: like plates stacked on top of each other.

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Q.9: Write a short note on stack operations

Basic Stack Operations:

1. Push – Add element to top. stack.append(10)
2. Pop – Remove and return top element. element = stack.pop()
3. Is Empty – Check if stack has no elements. is_empty = len(stack) == 0

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