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Computer Science Introduction to Data Structures Building a Linked List Linked Lists Operations

Time Complexity for Insertion in Different Languages

The videos state that in Python, the time complexity for Insertion on a Linked List is O(n) because of the need to search. When I look at Big O Notation cheat sheets, they state the average and worst time complexity for an insertion or deletion of a Single Linked or Doubly Linked List is O(1).

Is the time complexity expected to be different in all or most languages?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

Complexity is a conceptual issue, and should not differ between languages.

If you look carefully at the code comments, you'll see this: "Insertion takes O(1) time but finding node at insertion point takes O(n) time.".

My guess is that the cheat sheets you found are only considering the basic insertion time.