Array is a collection of variables of same data type referenced under the same name. they are stored in a contiguous memory locations and can be accessed randomly using indecesof the array.
Eg. int a[4]. here 4 is the length of the array.
| 10 | 20 | 56 | 23 |
|---|
in this example First index: 0 last index: 3 Array length: 4
We can use normal variables (v1, v2, v3, ..) when we have a small number of objects, but if we want to store a large number of instances, it becomes difficult to manage them with normal variables. The idea of an array is to represent many instances in one variable.
Advantages of an Array in C++:
- Random access of elements using array index.
- Use of less line of code as it creates a single array of multiple elements.
- Easy access to all the elements.
- Traversal through the array becomes easy using a single loop.
- Sorting becomes easy as it can be accomplished by writing less line of code.
Disadvantages of an Array in C++:
- Allows a fixed number of elements to be entered which is decided at the time of declaration. Unlike a linked list.
- Insertion and deletion of elements can be costly since the elements are needed to be managed in accordance with the new memory allocation.