Arrays
An array is a series of elements of the same type placed in
contiguous memory locations that can be individually
referenced by adding an index to a unique identifier.
That means that, for example, five values of type int can be
declared as an array without having to declare 5 different
variables (each with its own identifier). Instead, using an array,
the five int values are stored in contiguous memory locations,
and all five can be accessed using the same identifier, with the
proper index.
For example, an array containing 5 integer values of
type int called foo could be represented as:
where each blank panel represents an element of the array. In
this case, these are values of type int. These elements are
numbered from 0 to 4, being 0 the first and 4 the last; In C++,
the first element in an array is always numbered with a zero (not
a one), no matter its length.
Like a regular variable, an array must be declared before it is
used. A typical declaration for an array in C++ is:
type name [elements];
where type is a valid type (such as int, float...), name is a valid
identifier and the elements field (which is always enclosed in
square brackets []), specifies the length of the array in terms of
the number of elements.
Therefore, the foo array, with five elements of type int, can be
declared as:
int foo [5];
NOTE: The elements field within square brackets [],
representing the number of elements in the array, must be
a constant expression, since arrays are blocks of static memory
whose size must be determined at compile time, before the
program runs.
Initializing arrays
By default, regular arrays of local scope (for example, those
declared within a function) are left uninitialized. This means that
none of its elements are set to any particular value; their
contents are undetermined at the point the array is declared.
But the elements in an array can be explicitly initialized to
specific values when it is declared, by enclosing those initial
values in braces {}. For example:
int foo [5] = { 16, 2, 77, 40, 12071 };
This statement declares an array that can be represented like
this:
The number of values between braces {} shall not be greater
than the number of elements in the array. For example, in the
example above, foo was declared having 5 elements (as
specified by the number enclosed in square brackets, []), and
the braces {} contained exactly 5 values, one for each element.
If declared with less, the remaining elements are set to their
default values (which for fundamental types, means they are
filled with zeroes). For example:
int bar [5] = { 10, 20, 30 };
Will create an array like this:
The initializer can even have no values, just the braces:
int baz [5] = { };
This creates an array of five int values, each initialized with a
value of zero:
When an initialization of values is provided for an array, C++
allows the possibility of leaving the square brackets empty []. In
this case, the compiler will assume automatically a size for the
array that matches the number of values included between the
braces {}:
int foo [] = { 16, 2, 77, 40, 12071 };
After this declaration, array foo would be 5 int long, since we
have provided 5 initialization values.
Finally, the evolution of C++ has led to the adoption
of universal initialization also for arrays. Therefore, there is no
longer need for the equal sign between the declaration and the
initializer. Both these statements are equivalent:
1 int foo[] = { 10, 20, 30 };
2 int foo[] { 10, 20, 30 };
Static arrays, and those declared directly in a namespace
(outside any function), are always initialized. If no explicit
initializer is specified, all the elements are default-initialized
(with zeroes, for fundamental types).
Accessing the values of an array
The values of any of the elements in an array can be accessed
just like the value of a regular variable of the same type. The
syntax is:
name[index]
Following the previous examples in which foo had 5 elements
and each of those elements was of type int, the name which can
be used to refer to each element is the following:
For example, the following statement stores the value 75 in the
third element of foo:
foo [2] = 75;
and, for example, the following copies the value of the third
element of foo to a variable called x:
x = foo[2];
Therefore, the expression foo[2] is itself a variable of type int.
Notice that the third element of foo is specified foo[2], since the
first one is foo[0], the second one is foo[1], and therefore, the
third one is foo[2]. By this same reason, its last element
is foo[4]. Therefore, if we write foo[5], we would be accessing
the sixth element of foo, and therefore actually exceeding the
size of the array.
In C++, it is syntactically correct to exceed the valid range of
indices for an array. This can create problems, since accessing
out-of-range elements do not cause errors on compilation, but
can cause errors on runtime. The reason for this being allowed
will be seen in a later chapter when pointers are introduced.
At this point, it is important to be able to clearly distinguish
between the two uses that bracket [] have related to arrays.
They perform two different tasks: one is to specify the size of
arrays when they are declared; and the second one is to specify
indices for concrete array elements when they are accessed. Do
not confuse these two possible uses of brackets [] with arrays.
1 int foo[5]; // declaration of a new array
2 foo[2] = 75; // access to an element of the
array.
The main difference is that the declaration is preceded by the
type of the elements, while the access is not. Some other valid
operations with arrays:
1 foo[0] = a;
2 foo[a] = 75;
3 b = foo [a+2];
4 foo[foo[a]] = foo[2] + 5;
For example:
1 // arrays example 12206
2 #include <iostream>
3 using namespace std;
4 int foo [] = {16, 2, 77, 40, 12071};
5 int n, result=0;
6 int main ()
7 {
8 for ( n=0 ; n<5 ; ++n )
9 {
10 result += foo[n];
11 }
12 cout << result;
13 return 0;}
Multidimensional arrays
Multidimensional arrays can be described as "arrays of arrays".
For example, a bidimensional array can be imagined as a two-
dimensional table made of elements, all of them of a same
uniform data type.
jimmy represents a bidimensional array of 3 per 5 elements of
type int. The C++ syntax for this is:
int jimmy [3][5];
and, for example, the way to reference the second element
vertically and fourth horizontally in an expression would be:
jimmy[1][3]
(remember that array indices always begin with zero).
Multidimensional arrays are not limited to two indices (i.e., two
dimensions). They can contain as many indices as needed.
Although be careful: the amount of memory needed for an array
increases exponentially with each dimension. For example:
char century [100][365][24][60][60];
declares an array with an element of type char for each second
in a century. This amounts to more than 3 billion char! So this
declaration would consume more than 3 gigabytes of memory!
At the end, multidimensional arrays are just an abstraction for
programmers, since the same results can be achieved with a
simple array, by multiplying its indices:
1 int jimmy [3][5]; // is equivalent to
2 int jimmy [15]; // (3 * 5 = 15)
With the only difference that with multidimensional arrays, the
compiler automatically remembers the depth of each imaginary
dimension. The following two pieces of code produce the exact
same result, but one uses a bidimensional array while the other
uses a simple array:
multidimensional array pseudo-multidimensional array
#define WIDTH 5 #define WIDTH 5
#define HEIGHT 3 #define HEIGHT 3
int jimmy [HEIGHT][WIDTH]; int jimmy [HEIGHT * WIDTH];
int n,m; int n,m;
int main () int main ()
{ {
for (n=0; n<HEIGHT; n++) for (n=0; n<HEIGHT; n++)
for (m=0; m<WIDTH; m++) for (m=0; m<WIDTH; m++)
{ {
jimmy[n][m]=(n+1)*(m+1); jimmy[n*WIDTH+m]=(n+1)*(m+1);
} }
} }
None of the two code snippets above produce any output on the
screen, but both assign values to the memory block called
jimmy in the following way:
Note that the code uses defined constants for the width and
height, instead of using directly their numerical values.
