It's worth noting that Python has just one linear structure - lists* (Ruby avoids lists and just has arrays). Now, they're actually much fancier under the hood

It's worth noting that Python has just one linear structure - lists* (Ruby avoids lists and just has arrays). Now, they're actually much fancier under the hood, which is why you can get away with not having a bunch of choices, but it's the approach of "Oh hey, I want to store a bunch of stuff in a sequence of some sort - why should it matter how that's implemented?". Now, I happen to agree with you that it's important to know how a basic linked list works. Beyond that, though, is far less important to some people than others. * Okay, I lied. Halfway through writing this I remembered tuples (duh!), and I'm sure someone is going to point out several other things I've missed.