Tree: What is a Tree Structure? Easily Understand with Real-Life Examples

This article uses a life analogy to explain the "tree" in data structures. The core is that a tree is similar to a tree in life: it has a root node (starting point), child/parent nodes (branches and their source), leaf nodes (no descendants), and subtrees (nodes and their descendants), with the characteristics of being non-linear, branching, and hierarchical. Unlike linear linked lists (single path), trees can have multiple branches (e.g., the root node can have multiple child nodes). Tree structures are ubiquitous in life: family relationships take elders as the root, corporate structures take the CEO as the root, and computer file systems take the disk as the root, all reflecting hierarchical branches. The core advantage of trees is their efficient handling of hierarchical branching problems, such as database indexing, navigation path planning, and game scene construction. Understanding tree structures allows one to master the thinking of handling branching problems. In life, families, companies, and file systems are typical applications of trees.