database and linked list with Visual C++ -Need opinions

[Jim S]

I am finishing up my senior project for school which involves an access database with visual c++. Everything is woring as it should, but one of my professors critisized my work a bit.

I have the contents of a database loaded into a linked list at startup, and if a new entry needs to be added or something needs to be removed, changes are made to both the database and linked list. He says that I should get rid of the linked list altogether. I know it's extra stuff that I may not need, but I feel the linked list makes accessing data easier and faster. I also think that the less I have to deal with the database, the better off I'll be. The program does take up about 18MB of memory while it's running though :-P That does seem like a lot for a somewhat simple program.

I just wanted to see what others' opinions were before I changed anything. It's going to take a lot of work to take the linked list out. I need a real good reason to change my program at this point.

[Jim S]

Nevermind. I just changed the program since it's best to do what the boss says. The program is just a fraction of a second slower when accessing the data, but it uses about 400KB less memory while running. I guess the bulk of the memory used was for the visual components. So the program is pretty much complete now. I can finally graduate :-P