I agree, but only to a certain degree. I do not say one should implement a linked list before writing the customary Hello, World program. Off course, it will b

I agree, but only to a certain degree. I do not say one should implement a linked list before writing the customary Hello, World program. Off course, it will be a couple of months before a "first time programmer" implements the first data structure program. But saying "Screw 'em! You can learn them when you need them" is a very very bad advice. One should be aware of data structures and algorithms before writing any non-trivial program. Heck, data structures should be everyone's first non-trivial programs. Whenever I pick up a new programming language, first thing I do is implement simple data structures like stacks, queues, linked lists etc. I have found that this way I can learn the most important parts of the language at hand pretty quickly. This is a habit I picked up when I first learnt data structures and this has stayed with me and has been paying me off handsomely.