Non-ordered

Describing a state or set where elements lack a defined, sequential, or structured arrangement; a lack of imposed or inherent sequence or priority. This implies an absence of a pre-determined rule dictating the order of items. Instead, the items might appear randomly, arbitrarily, or according to a factor unrelated to their position. Consequently, operations or interpretations cannot readily rely on a specific order for consistent results. It highlights flexibility and the absence of imposed limitations around position within a group.

Non-ordered meaning with examples

• The application's data retrieval resulted in a non-ordered list of records. The order didn't matter to the function performing a summarization of the entries, only their content. Attempting to sort the list based on dates would be necessary for any further analysis that required a time-sensitive view of the data, but it was irrelevant for its initial task.
• In the context of a hash table, the storage of data is often non-ordered. Elements are placed according to hash values instead of a sequential structure. Accessing a specific element requires knowledge of the key to hash for that same element. It makes searches efficient while maintaining flexibility and avoiding positional constraints.
• The experiment's outcomes were presented in a non-ordered fashion. Because each trial was independent and the data points were independent, the sequence in which the values were presented was not significant. This allowed for straightforward comparisons based on measured characteristics instead of sequence or position.
• The selection of items from the store was stored in a non-ordered list. This means the receipts had no intrinsic meaning as a sequence and weren't stored based on when items were placed in the cart. If the customer wanted to see items in an alternative order, a sort function would be required for that presentation.
• A bucket sort algorithm operates by distributing data into several non-ordered buckets, and individual items are sorted into the appropriate bins. The data is sorted by a different sorting method after this bucket distribution. The buckets themselves do not have a particular inherent order.