Dynamically Varying Structures

One area of programming languages with many divergent views is the area generally included under the term data structures. By a data structure we mean a collection of data that bear some relation to each other and are organized so as to represent these relationships. The organization reflects real-world relationships and thus must be able to change dynamically. For example, we may describe the nodes in a network, the components of a data base, the items in a linked list, or the members of a family tree.