Eli5: explain data structure from computer science to a non technical person.

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How do I explain what is data structure to someone who has never programmed before?

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Have they used a spreadsheet? A data structure is like a spreadsheet, where the columns in the spreadsheet are the properties in a data structure, and each row is an individual record.

If they don’t understand spreadsheets, I would probably say that a data structure is simply a way to combine different types of information under one name. An Employee structure, for example, might have a name, birthdate, and hourly wage. Each employee is represented by a single instance of an Employee structure.

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