Skip list

A skip list is a list of items like a shopping list or a list of friends. But it is special because it has shortcuts that help you find things faster. Imagine your friend's names are written on a wall, and each name "block" is connected with different colored lines or shortcuts.

Whenever you want to find a particular friend's name, you start at the top of the list and quickly go down. If you don't find the name, you move to the next shortcut, which takes you halfway down the list. You keep going down and use these shortcuts until you find the name you're looking for or realize that the name is not on the list.

The skip list saves you time by reducing the number of times you have to walk all the way down the list. It's like climbing down stairs using some steps missing to save your time. The skip list is useful in computer programming for searching through big lists of information like phone contacts or music playlists.