We present a parallel data structure for the discretization of partial differential equations which is based on distributed point objects and which enables the flexible, transparent, and efficient realization of conforming, nonconforming, and mixed finite elements. This concepts is realized for elliptic, parabolic and hyperbolic model problems, and sample applications are provided by a tutorial complementing a lecture on scientific computing. The corresponding open-source software is based on this parallel data structure, and it supports multilevel methods on nested meshes and 2D and 3D as well as in space-time. Here, we present generic results on porous media applications including multilevel preconditioning and multilevel Monte Carlo methods for uncertainty quantification.