A method and computer program product for creating a data structure for representing a plurality of nodes in a network. One or more data fields are created corresponding to the plurality of nodes for storing information related to the nodes. One or more references are also created for each node such that each reference refers to a node adjacent to the corresponding node. The data fields and the references are then stored in a plurality of secondary data structures. Thereafter, each node is associated with a secondary data structure which includes the data fields and the references corresponding to the associated node. Subsequently, the data structure may be created for storing the secondary data structures.