Introduction to Array
Introduction to Array
An array is collection of same data type of elements that refer by a common name. An array is a liner data-structure which store the all elements in a sequence.
Property of Array:
- Array require a contiguous memory space to store elements
- The size of an array must be define at the declaration time
- The array elements are accessed by its index number.
- An array index must be start with 0 so the last index is size_of_array-1
Terminologies
- Element — Each item stored in an array is called an element.
- Index — Each memory location of an element in an array is identified by a numerical index.
Declaration of Array:
Syntax:
<Data Type> <Array Name>[size];
Example:
int num[20];
- Data Type: Data type of element you want to store in an array.
- Name: Name of the array.
- Size: Length of the array i.e. how many elements you want to store.
Basic Operations
There are some specific operations that can be performed or those that are supported by the array. These are:
- Traversal: To traverse all the array elements one after another.
- Insertion: To add an element at the given position.
- Deletion: To delete an element at the given position.
- Searching: To search an element(s) using the given index or by value.
- Updating: To update an element at the given index.
- Sorting: To arrange elements in the array in a specific order.
- Merging: To merge two arrays into one.