title: Linked List - Appending node: loop or pointer?
body: <p>I am writing a linked list datatype and as such I currently have the standard head pointer which references the first item, and then a next pointer for each element that points to the following one such that the final element has next = NULL.</p>
  
  <p>I am just curious what the pros/cons or best practices are for keeping track of the last node. I could have a 'tail' pointer which always points to the last node making it easy to append, or I could loop over the list starting from the head pointer to find the last node when I want to append. Which method is better?</p>