What exactly do we mean by data structures? Generally speaking, they are objects capable of storing and retrieving an arbitrary number of values of any type in a systematic way. In other words, data structures are similar to basic data types: they can be stored via variables, removed, changed, and more.

Built-in data structures provide a standard and highly performant way to work with bulk data. However, there is simply no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all data structure. The benefits and shortcomings of each are built-in and inseparable from the general design. Let's go through the main data structures and discuss both the pros and cons of each one. The following sections will go over the main data structures in Python, starting with the most popular one: lists.