How do primitive and non-primitive structures differ in what they hold?

Primitive holds a single value; non-primitive holds a collection

Primitive holds a collection; non-primitive holds a single value

How are non-primitive structures operated on?

Through user-written functions or algorithms

Directly by machine instructions

2073 Bhadra · 4 marks

Primitive vs non-primitive data structure

Short answer

Primitive data structures are basic language types storing a single value with fixed size, like int or char; non-primitive structures are derived from them, store collections of values, can be linear (array, list) or non-linear (tree, graph), and may have dynamic size.

Differentiate between primitive and non-primitive data structure.

Primitive data structures are the basic data types provided by the language and directly operated on by machine instructions. Non-primitive data structures are derived from primitive ones and store collections of related values.

Primitive	Non-primitive
Basic types defined by the language	Derived (user-defined) from primitive types
Hold a single value	Hold a collection of values, possibly of different types
Examples: int, float, char, boolean, pointer	Examples: array, stack, queue, linked list, tree, graph, struct
Size is fixed by the machine/compiler	Size may be fixed (array) or change at run time (list)
Operated on directly by machine instructions	Need user-written functions or algorithms
Not divisible into smaller data types	Can be divided into simpler components
Store data in one memory location	Store data in a number of related locations

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Primitive vs non-primitive data structure

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