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What are Arrays?

Explore the fundamentals of arrays in C++, understanding how to declare and initialize them, access and modify their elements safely, and use loops for traversal. This lesson helps you grasp the concept of contiguous memory allocation and fixed-size collections, empowering you to manage multiple data items efficiently in C++ programs.

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Until now, we have focused on variables that can hold a single value. For instance, we can have a variable to store a student’s roll number and another to hold a student’s final grade. But what if we have a class of a hundred students? Can we manage a hundred variables to store roll numbers and a hundred additional variables to store grades? Suppose we want to calculate the average grade. Will the mathematical expression include the addition of a hundred variables? The example clarifies that managing several variables is not a feasible solution. To address the problem, we use arrays.

Arrays

In C++, an array is a collection of similar data types under the same name.

But what does this mean? Imagine an array as a row of identical houses lined up next to each other on a street. Each house can hold a family and is numbered sequentially.

In the context of programming, an array is like this row of houses, where each house represents a slot in memory that can hold a piece of data (like an int, char, float, or any other data type). The array itself is like the street, and its index is like the number on each house.

Let’s look at some of the key points of arrays:

  1. Fixed size: Just as a street has a fixed number of houses, an array has a fixed number of elements, determined when the array is declared. For example, if we declare an array of 5 numbers, it’s ...