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I have come up with a data structure that combines some of the advantages of linked lists with some of the advantages of fixed-size arrays. It seems very obvious to me, and so I'd expect someone to have thought of it and named it already. Does anyone know what this is called: Take a small fixed-size array. If the number of elements you want to put in your array is greater than the size of the array, add a new array and whatever pointers you like between the old and the new. Thus you have: Static array ————————————————————————— |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|a|b|c| ————————————————————————— Linked list ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— |1|*->|2|*->|3|*->|4|*->|5|*->NULL ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— My thing: ———————————— ———————————— |1|2|3|4|5|*->|6|7|8|9|a|*->NULL ———————————— ———————————— Edit : For reference, this algorithm provides pretty poor worst-case addition/deletion performance, and not much better average-case. The big advantage for my scenario is the improved cache performance for read operations. Edit re bounty : Antal S-Z's answer was so complete and well-researched that I wanted to provide em with a bounty for it. Apparently Stack Overflow doesn't let me accept an answer as soon as I've offered a bounty, so I'll have to wait (admittedly I am abusing the intention bounty system somewhat, although it's in the name of rewarding someone for an excellent answer). Of course, if someone does manage to provide a better answer, more power to them, and they can most certainly have the bounty instead! Edit re names : I'm not interested in what you'd call it, unless you'd call it that because that's what authorities on the subject would call it. If it's a name you just came up with, I'm not interested. What I want is a name that I can look up in text books and with Google. (Also, here's a tip: Antal's answer is what I was

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