In Computer Programming, data structures organise information. Specifically, data structures indicate the types of data and, consequently, which operations can be performed on them. Additionally, they eliminate the need for programmers to track memory addresses.

Types of data structures:

• Simple data structures, as integers, real numbers, Booleans (true/false), and characters or character strings.
• Compound data structures are formed by combining one or more data types. The most relevant compound data structures are:
  • The array is a homogeneous collection of data.
    • An array may represent a vector of numbers, a list of strings, or a collection of vectors (an array of arrays, or a mathematical matrix).
  • The record is a heterogeneous collection.
    • A record might store employee information—name, title, and salary.
    • An array of records, such as a table of employees, is a collection of heterogeneous elements.
    • Conversely, a record might contain a vector—i.e., an array.