Arrays in Computer Programming 2

Introduction to Arrays

• An array is a derived data type used to store a collection of data or variables of the same type.
• Arrays consist of contiguous memory locations, with the lowest address corresponding to the first element and the highest address to the last element.

Characteristics of Arrays

• Arrays can store a large number of values with a single name.
• Arrays are used to process many values easily and quickly.
• The values stored in an array can be sorted easily.
• The search process can be applied on arrays easily.

Need for Arrays

• To store a large number of variables of the same type under a single variable.
• For easy understanding of the program.

Declaration of an Array

• A typical declaration for an array in Visual C++ is: type name [elements];
• type is a valid type (like int, float, etc.).
• name is a valid identifier.
• elements field specifies how many elements the array has to contain (number of elements that can be stored).

Initializing Arrays

• Arrays can be initialized in three ways:
  • With array size but without values, e.g., int myArray[];
  • With array size and values, e.g., int myArray[] = {4, 8, 9, 10, 3};
  • Without array size but with values, e.g., int myArray[] = {4, 8, 9, 10, 3};
• The number of values between braces { } should not be greater than the number of elements in the array.