Data-Structures-Performance-Analysis

C++ implementation comparing array-based vs linked-list data structures in a flight reservation system, with performance analysis of search and sort operations.

Project Overview

This Flight Reservation System demonstrates and compares two fundamental data structures:

• 2D Array-based implementation
• Linked List-based implementation

The system manages passenger reservations for a large aircraft (400 rows × 26 seats) and provides performance comparisons between different data structure operations.

Educational Purpose

This project was created to demonstrate:

1. Data Structure Trade-offs: Compare array vs linked list performance
2. Search Algorithms: Linear search, binary search, hash-based lookup
3. Sorting Algorithms: Merge sort implementation for both structures
4. Memory Management: Manual memory allocation without STL containers
5. Real-world Application: Flight reservation system with CSV data

Features

Core Functionality

• Seating Chart Display: Visual representation with color-coded seats
  • X (red) = Reserved seat
  • O (green) = Available seat
• Passenger Manifest: Sorted list of all passengers
• Multiple Search Methods:
  • Linear search (common to both)
  • Binary search (array-specific)
  • Hash map lookup (linked list-specific)
• Direct Seat Access: Quick lookup by row and column

Performance Analysis

• Time measurements for all operations (microseconds)
• Memory usage calculations (bytes and KB)
• Side-by-side comparison tables
• Multiple test scenarios:
  • Seating chart generation
  • Unsorted manifest display
  • Sorted manifest display
  • Search operations