# Linked Lists

**Track:** Objects, Data Structures & Algorithms — Creative Coding — the existing 50
**Framework / surface:** p5.js
**Level:** Intermediate
**Prerequisites:** Objects & Classes

**In one line:** A sequence built from nodes that point to each other.

## Theory, aesthetics & inspiration

A linked list builds a sequence not from contiguous memory but from nodes, each holding a value and a pointer to the next—structure made of indirection rather than adjacency. Donald Knuth's "The Art of Computer Programming" treats linked allocation as a foundational technique, trading the array's instant indexing for cheap insertion and rearrangement anywhere in the chain. The aesthetic is one of flexible connection: the list can grow, splice, and reorder without copying, and the same node pattern generalizes into trees and graphs. To make the invisible pointer visible—drawing each node and its arrow—turns an abstract reference into a tangible, navigable form.