What is the difference between BST and AVL trees?

Can you explain the difference between BST and AVL trees?

Sure! A Binary Search Tree (BST) is a tree data structure where each node has at most two children, and the left child's value is less than its parent's value, while the right child's value is greater. AVL trees are a type of self-balancing BST where the heights of the two child subtrees of any node differ by at most one.

What are the advantages of using AVL trees over regular BSTs?

The main advantage of AVL trees is that they maintain a balanced structure, which ensures O(log n) time complexity for search, insertion, and deletion operations. In contrast, unbalanced BSTs can degrade to O(n) in the worst case.

Are there any disadvantages to using AVL trees?

Yes, AVL trees require more rotations during insertions and deletions to maintain balance, which can make these operations slightly slower compared to regular BSTs. Additionally, they use more memory due to the storage of balance factors.

When should I use an AVL tree instead of a BST?

You should use an AVL tree when you need guaranteed O(log n) performance for dynamic data sets where frequent insertions and deletions occur, and maintaining balance is crucial for performance.