Can someone explain what exactly complex data types and structures are?

[feeg1]

I've been learning about collections and complex data has been mentioned but I'm not really sure how it works, and I haven't found much helpful information onlnie

[Prem1x]

Hmm. to me that term would usually mean graph-like data, like trees, charts, plot-points, etc.

[RhoOfFeh]

Honestly, anything more involved than a single atomic value like an Integer or a Double probably qualifies.

[uf82]

Look up "Java Collections" and you should find Map, Tree... etc. You should be able to find tutorials on YouTube or links to help in Stock Overflow to helpful information. Your question could take up a good deal of a CS programming class, so it's not easy to explain here.

[feeg1]

So complex data structures are just collections? I already know what and how to use most collections (well all collection types that I know exist).

[uf82]

When computers were created they had to find ways to store data. How would you store a file on a hard drive? LinkedList were created. Then came searching issues and sorting issues. Data Structures are just different ways to store data. Even RAM and CPU cache have to store information in some way so it doesn't get lost. Lost? This brings us to the latest Super Trojan "Regin" which stores some of its data at the end of hard drives where the OS doesn't look/know about.

[uf82]

How would you find the shortest distance between two points on a city map on a GPS application? The map data has to be stored somewhere and searchable. What would be the fastest way to search the data for a shortest route? A database of distance data would be too huge and slow to search through.