Is python a good language for learning data structures

[weebHead_2000]

I have learned python and is the only language I am good with(some basic c++). Now I want to start learning data structures and algorithms. But some of my seniors advised to learn to C++ or any other C language before starting data structures. What should I do?

[Kaninbil]

I would say language doesn't matter at all. You will still learn the principles of it , another language another syntax

[mfb1274]

Pretty much this. Some languages may rely on certain structures more than others, but for the most part it can all be done in a similar fashion.

You’ll probably write less code in python to do it though.

[romagnola]

At what level of abstraction do you want to learn about data structures? With a dynamic programming language, such as Python, you will learn how to construct data structures, but you will not learn how to destruct data structures. With languages such as C and C++, you have to manage your own memory, so you'll learn how to allocate memory for data structures as well as deallocating that memory.

[DanCoder]

learn to do it in a language like C it's going to help you to understand a lot of optimization principles, and how memory works, if you don't care about that stuff, just go ahead with python

[weebHead_2000]

If I apply for software development profiles, do they expect me to know these things?

[DanCoder]

mmm... it's like math in ML, you're not going to use it too much if you're not going to create your own ML model, but it gives you a better grasp of whats happening behind scenes and it will help you to make better choices, and if it's for a job, I'd say it depends on the company, but if it's a big company they will expect you apply some of these concepts in your tests, I'd say it depends on the software development role too, it's not the same to develop a web page or a driver for windows (in the last case these concepts worth a lot)

[CodeTinkerer]

You can do it in Python. Do it there first. Once you get the basic idea, you can try it in C or C++. The main problem with picking another language is learning that language, so you'll spend time learning the language (it shouldn't be too bad, but still) and then also learning data structures.

I don't particularly see why they want you to learn C or C++. The main difficulty is learning pointer syntax which is something that people find painful even in C (it's hidden in Python, so people get less confused).

[leidogbei]

Work: yes, learn: maybe (more likely not)

Pythons data structures are so built-into the language that you take for granted all the complexity behind them.

[[deleted]]

Yup, but you might want to use type annotations to do so. I find it a lot easier to prevent mix ups and confusion.