What is the primary risk associated with accessing an array element using an index that is out of bounds?
Understand the Problem
The question asks about the potential risks of accessing an array element using an index that is outside the valid range of indices for that array. It assesses understanding of how programming languages handle out-of-bounds array access.
Answer
Accessing an array out of bounds leads to undefined behavior, potentially causing crashes or unpredictable results.
The primary risk associated with accessing an array element using an index that is out of bounds is undefined behavior, which can lead to unpredictable values, segmentation faults, or other erratic program behavior.
Answer for screen readers
The primary risk associated with accessing an array element using an index that is out of bounds is undefined behavior, which can lead to unpredictable values, segmentation faults, or other erratic program behavior.
More Information
Undefined behavior means the result of the operation is unpredictable and can vary. It might seem to work sometimes, but fail at other times, making debugging very difficult.
Tips
Always validate array indices before accessing elements to ensure they are within the valid bounds of the array. This prevents undefined behavior and makes your code more robust.
Sources
- How dangerous is it to access an array out of bounds? - stackoverflow.com
- What happens when an index outside of the valid range is used to ... - quora.com
- Undefined behavior - cppreference.com - en.cppreference.com
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