A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms in Python, Volume 1

Data Structures

Let’s talk about data.

Data is a broad term that refers to all types of information, down to the most basic numbers and strings. In the simple but classic “Hello World!” program, the string "Hello World!" is a piece of data. In fact, even the most complex pieces of data usually break down into a bunch of numbers and strings.

Data structures refer to how data is organized. You’re going to learn how the same data can be organized in a variety of ways.

Let’s look at the following code:

x = "Hello! "
y = "How are you "
z = "today?"

print(x + y + z)

This simple program deals with three pieces of data, outputting three strings to make one coherent message. If we were to describe how the data is organized in this program, we’d ...