Skip to content
CodeWiki
Practice
Paths
Tracks
Cheatsheets
Playground
Glossary
AI era
Search
⌘K
English
English
Chinese
Practice
Paths
Tracks
Cheatsheets
Playground
Glossary
AI era
English
English
Chinese
Practice
/
Quiz
/
CS foundations
/
Arrays and linked lists
Why can an array traverse faster than a linked list even though both traversals are O(n)?
from Arrays and linked lists
Node 24
intermediate
3 min
Why can an array traverse faster than a linked list even though both traversals are O(n)?
Big-O guarantees arrays use fewer CPU instructions.
Nearby array slots can have better cache locality than separately allocated nodes.
Linked lists must sort nodes during traversal.
Arrays always store every language value inline.
Check
Ask AI about this kata
Report an error
previous kata
When is insertion into a singly linked list truly O(1)?
Quiz
next kata
What does this access comparison print?
Predict the output
A new version is available
Reload