It's not just any other tree structure. It's the tree structure that is by far the most common way of implementing a priority queue, and it's the tree structure at the heart of the algorithm "heap sort", which is not exactly obscure. It's also the tree structure that gives "the heap" its name (though modern operating systems and allocators don't use heaps for this purpose anymore). I've personally implemented heaps in a variety of languages and contexts throughout the years as part of my work.
I don't want to sound too dismissive here, but this is not some obscure data structure with only theoretical interest. It's perfectly fine to not know off the top of your head what splay trees, Fibonacci trees or skip lists are or how they work. But if you have a degree in computer science, you should know what a heap is.
I understand that it is highly unpopular that some particular knowledge is unnecessary - for every piece of knowledge there are people who feel very strongly about it. I guess that's partly because getting the knowledge was quite an effort, and then psychology kicks in, what was hard to obtain has value by that proxy. Makes it hard to talk rationally and calmly about what is actually needed. That's why questions such as what children or students need to learn are so hard, the discussion always becomes extremely heated, and removing anything from the list can only be done against lots of screaming. So sure, me saying that being able to immediately connect some name and immediately have the respective thing, here some algorithm, available without looking it up is not popular maybe not with everybody, but those who are opposed to what I see feel very strongly about it. Unfortunately that includes interpreting things into what I say/write that is not really there. I mean, obviously, a good and thorough education in algorithm fundamentals is extremely valuable.
> I have no intention of becoming or finding good becoming a walking lexicon of obscure algorithms and minutiae.
This implies that you think that heaps are obscure and minutiae. If that wasn't what you meant I'm not sure why you brought it up in a discussion about heaps.
> I understand that it is highly unpopular that some particular knowledge is unnecessary -
what is highly popular today is the idea that knowledge is unnecessary because you can always google it. You can't google what you do not know it exist.
> This implies
Why don't you stick to what I wrote? You respond to the straw man your own imagination creates.
> is the idea that knowledge is unnecessary
See above. You are being quite ridiculous.
EDIT: I knew it, you narcissist use alt accounts for voting manipulation. LOL, I won't even report you, sick little child (no sane person would go through such trouble for literally nothing). I knew it was only you all along, and this comment was a provocation test - nobody else is reading this any more at this point. The only way to get such a quick within-minutes reaction to this comment is if you cheat (and use a notification service, which was already likely in your case so I counted on it). Got you! My own personal troll, I feel honored!
I have no intention of becoming or finding good becoming a walking lexicon of obscure algorithms and minutiae. Thank god I'm really good at forgetting stuff I don't need - as well as learning stuff I do need but never did before, but only when I actually need it. Dynamic learning capability (let's just call it that) seems far superior to me than static learning. We have Google to outsource a lot of that to.
Anyway, looking up max heap it's trivial, no idea what my benefit would be if I knew every variation of a tree structure somebody came up with by heart. Often it's just a name for something that anyone who needs it would come up with by themselves anyway if they understand the greater concept because it's kind of obvious. I have used plenty of data structures for which I'm sure someone invented a name for without knowing that name.