Applications of Array

What is an Array?

Array is a linear data structure that stores a collection of items of same data type in contiguous memory locations. Each item in an array is indexed starting with 0. We can directly access an array element by using its index value....

Basic terminologies of Array

Array Index: In an array, elements are identified by their indexes. Array index starts from 0.Array element: Elements are items stored in an array and can be accessed by their index.Array Length: The length of an array is determined by the number of elements it can contain....

Memory representation of Array

In an array, all the elements are stored in contiguous memory locations. So, if we initialize an array...

Declaration of Array

Arrays can be declared in various ways in different languages. For better illustration, below are some language-specific array declarations:...

Initialization of Array

Arrays can be initialized in different ways in different languages. Below are some language-specific array initializations:...

Importance of Array

Assume there is a class of five students and if we have to keep records of their marks in examination then, we can do this by declaring five variables individual and keeping track of records but what if the number of students becomes very large, it would be challenging to manipulate and maintain the data....

Types of Arrays

Arrays can be classified in two ways:...

Operations on Array

1. Array Traversal:...

Complexity Analysis of Operations on Array

Time Complexity:...

Advantages of Array

Arrays allow random access to elements. This makes accessing elements by position faster.Arrays have better cache locality which makes a pretty big difference in performance.Arrays represent multiple data items of the same type using a single name.Arrays are used to implement the other data structures like linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, graphs, etc....

Disadvantages of Array

As arrays have a fixed size, once the memory is allocated to them, it cannot be increased or decreased, making it impossible to store extra data if required. An array of fixed size is referred to as a static array. Allocating less memory than required to an array leads to loss of data.An array is homogeneous in nature so, a single array cannot store values of different data types. Arrays store data in contiguous memory locations, which makes deletion and insertion very difficult to implement. This problem is overcome by implementing linked lists, which allow elements to be accessed sequentially....

Applications of Array

They are used in the implementation of other data structures such as array lists, heaps, hash tables, vectors, and matrices.Database records are usually implemented as arrays.It is used in lookup tables by computer....

Conclusion

After the discussion, we concluded that arrays are a simple method of accessing elements of the same type by grouping them and we can find the elements efficiently by their indexes and can perform different operations using them. Thus, they are more efficient when it comes to memory allocation and should be used in all modern programming languages. So, this becomes a favorite topic for the perspective of the interview and most of the companies generally asked about the problems on the array. For all these reasons, we must have a good knowledge of it....

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Arrays

1. What is an array in data structure with example?...