Data structure, as the word suggests, means a structure for storing data. In the world of computing, data is always organized in a way that makes sense to the program storing it. Data structure can vary from a simple sequential arrangement of characters to a complex map where keys are not arranged sequentially, but on the basis of an algorithm. Data structures are often composite in nature, which means that one data structure can hold other data structure, which is a map holding another map.

The key influencing factors in designing a data structure are performance and memory management of the data structure. Some of the common examples of data structures are lists, sets, maps, graphs and trees, tuples, and so on. As programmers, we have used data structures in our programs time and again. In an object-oriented world, a simple object is also a data structure since it contains data, and logic to access those data. Every data structure is governed by an algorithm which decides...